The Internet and the Pandemic

Due to social conventions that encourage social isolation and widespread lockdowns, the Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably resulted in a rise in the usage of digital devices. Worldwide, individuals and organizations have had to adapt to new ways of living and working. We examine the potential outcomes of the digital upsurge and the related research problems.

Businesses and educational institutions are converting to work-from-home policies as a result of increased digitalization. Blockchain technology will grow in importance, necessitating design and regulatory studies. The number of gig workers and the gig economy is anticipated to grow, raising issues with how work is distributed, how people collaborate, how people are motivated, and how to work overload and presenteeism are affected. With more people online, issues like workplace surveillance and technostress will surface. 

Changes in the Pandemic

The whole world took a 180-degree turn when the pandemic occurred. Consumers have rapidly shifted toward online channels during the pandemic, and businesses and sectors have responded. The survey's findings support the quick transition to client engagement via digital media. They also demonstrate that adoption rates are years ahead of where they were in earlier surveys, with developed Asia leading the way in this regard. 

Nearly all areas have imposed lockdowns due to the pandemic's spread, closing down places where people assemble and interact, such as colleges, schools, malls, temples, offices, airports, and train stations. Most individuals are now using the internet and internet-based services to communicate, engage, and carry out their work duties from home as a result of the lockdown.

• Increase in Digitalization 

Organizations will expand their technological infrastructure to accommodate the huge increase in the use of video- and audio-conferencing equipment. Increased spending on network infrastructure, bandwidth growth, and cloud-based applications will result from this. Firms will adopt work-from-home (WFH) as the rule rather than the exception as employees get used to the concept, meet and transact online, and so on. 

Another industry that has dramatically shifted to conducting business  online  is  education. Schools, colleges, and institutions all over the world have switched their classes over to video conferencing technologies like Zoom and Google Meet since the lockdown began. We can all admit to the fact that apart from all this, there is a certain  loss of learning  in the education sector as the students have now become lenient. To improve this situation, we need to work collectively on educating students in the best possible manner. Along with these synchronous teaching methods, enrollments on asynchronous platforms like edX and Coursera have also increased.

• Gig and home-based workers

Online platforms that recruit workers on an as-needed, brief-term, and largely informal basis are the engines behind the gig economy. Uber and Airbnb are well-known examples of these on a worldwide scale, and Ola and Swiggy are examples in India. These platforms have expanded greatly since cellphones became widely accessible starting in 2010. Workers employed by these platforms have suffered greatly during the lockdown as there has been no demand for their services, such as taxi rides, rents, or skilled labour.

In the short run, it's conceivable that gig economy workers will slowly return in the post-pandemic scenario when manufacturing and service firms resume their previous operations. However, we believe that the gig economy will flourish over the long term as the chance of infection and transmission decreases. The WFH culture will play a role in this as well.

Through discussions of telecommuting, digital nomads, and virtual teams, work-from-home and gig labour have drawn attention in IS research. Work allocation and collaboration between teams, within teams, and across projects is one important challenge. As more WFH and gig workers enter the workforce in the post-pandemic era, this problem will grow in scope and significance. The design of work contracts, trust- and team-building, among other topics, may be the subject of research.

• Monitoring at work and technological stress

Large segments of the working population's use of digital technology also includes ongoing workplace supervision and continuous on-the-job activity. Video conferencing technology users who work from home are subject to rigorous monitoring and all interactions are "hyper-focused".  Because they may be accessible at any time thanks to  transformation in technologies, managers and bosses find it simpler to call and find employees. Although there is preliminary anecdotal evidence that this has enhanced production, it has also raised technostress levels.

After the pandemic, it's likely that labour unions will demand no-digital hours so they can escape the onslaught of work demands. The issues of work equity, balance, and stress management may be addressed by research.

• Online theft

Digital technology use is growing rapidly, and with it, so are online fraud, scams, invasions, and security breaches. The pandemic has produced an environment of uncertainty that invites scammers to take advantage of the crisis by obtaining money or information or by posing as victims. A growing number of people are starting to heavily rely on digital resources, some for the first time, making them targets for fraud and scams. Organizations and governments are aware of this problem and are acting to mitigate it. For example, several governments strongly opposed using Zoom conferences for educational purposes, which compelled the platform provider to enhance security.

After the pandemic, it's conceivable that these frauds and scams will become more prevalent. Massive security measures will be put in place by organisations, and government agencies will launch large informational campaigns. Security-related developments and businesses providing security services will grow. Research will probably concentrate on maintaining security, evaluating the causes of breaches, and calculating the resulting economic and social cost.

• Online Availability and the Digital Divide

In the post-pandemic future, where innovations will drive the spike in use, information technology, and notably the internet, will continue to be crucial. The administration and regulation of the internet itself will be a crucial component of this upsurge. Despite the fact that the internet is a worldwide resource and that no one nation has the power to regulate its protocols and features, local access and availability are nonetheless national issues. Some nations have also banned internet access during the pandemic for specific reasons.

After the pandemic, internet governance will become even more important since governments will still use it as a tool for policymaking. They can act as a go-between in matters of monitoring, bandwidth restriction, security, intermediary liability, and online transactions.

• Internet regulation: zero-rating and net neutrality

People's needs for data have increased as a result of widespread internet use during the pandemic for many different causes. This increase in Internet data usage has reignited the conversation around zero-rating programmes, which is relevant given the widening digital gap in modern countries.

Zero-rating plans allow businesses to provide consumers with access to data from their websites and services without charging them for the use of the data. Typically, this is not strictly allowed because it goes against the fundamentals of net neutrality, according to which all internet data must be treated equally in terms of priority and cost.

• Digital currency

In the post-pandemic environment, digital payments and currencies are likely to play a significant role. Governments will support digital payments since they are contactless, and they are expected to experience a boom. Additionally, the gig economy and WFH circumstances will contribute to this.

Digital money has been useful in the fight against the epidemic in two different ways. First, it was believed that coins and banknotes might be infected with the virus, and digital payment was preferred to "dirty money." With mandates from the government in some parts of India, online delivery firms were urging clients to make payments through digital payment systems like a credit/debit card or mobile payments. This will probably lead to an increase in digital payments.

To Conclude -

We are aware that a pandemic can have negative effects, such as altering the political landscape of the entire planet, overthrowing empires, and forging new states. We anticipate a significant shift in digital usage during the Covid-19 pandemic, which will have an effect on many facets of business and life. Our reactions to and shaping of the new trends will continue to have a significant impact on how this transition unfolds.

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