COVID Ties Us More Closely to New Technology - Horowitz
Tuesday, September 07, 2021
The severe limits on face-to-face in-person contact during the COVID-19 pandemic has made us even more dependent on our devices and online interactions in ways that are likely to have lasting impacts, according to a recently released Pew Research Center national survey.
There has been a 5% increase in the percentage of American adults that say the internet has been essential to them over the past year, Pew reports. Nearly 6-in-10 Americans now share that opinion and 9-out-of-10 Americans say the internet has been “at least important to them.”
Additionally, 4-in-10 say “they used technology in ways that were new or different to them.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOne use of new technology that has greatly expanded over the past year or so is video calls, both as a replacement for in-person work meetings and as a way to stay connected to family and friends. More than 8-in-10 Americans indicate that they have been on a video call during the pandemic.
There is no consensus, however, that video calls using Zoom or similar services are an unvarnished plus. Four-in-ten people that have participated in these calls say, “they have felt worn out or fatigued often or sometimes” as a result. In other words, “Zoom fatigue” is a real phenomenon. Nor for most Americans are these kinds of online interactions as satisfying and useful as in-person contact. “About two-thirds of Americans (68%) say the interactions they would have had in person, but instead had online or over the phone, have generally been useful – but not a replacement for in-person contact. Another 15% say these tools haven’t been of much use in their interactions. Still, 17% report that these digital interactions have been just as good as in-person contact,” Pew details.
For staying connected to families and friends, more people found text or group messaging apps and traditional voice phone calls helpful than they did video calls: “44% say text messages or group messaging apps have helped them a lot to stay connected with family and friends, 38% say the same about voice calls,” as compared to “30% that say this about video calls.” More American adults did find video calls helpful in this context than “social media sites (20%) and email (19%).”
The continued movement of work, school, and social interactions online that by all indications will outlast the pandemic make it more imperative than ever that we upgrade broadband connections overall and close the digital divide. Nearly half of Americans that have a high-speed internet connection at home experienced problems with “speed, reliability or the quality of their connection often or sometimes,” according to the survey. And nearly 3-in-10 did something to upgrade their broadband connection during the pandemic.
For a large slice of broadband and smartphone users, the affordability of new technology remains an ongoing concern with about 1-in-4 “saying they worried a lot or some about paying their internet and phone bills over the next few months.” Even more concerning, roughly 1-out-of-4 Americans still do not have broadband at home. Not surprisingly, people who face challenges in paying for new technology or still don’t have broadband are disproportionately low income and without college degrees.As work, school and life move online, it is essential to meeting the American promise of equality of opportunity and to our overall economic productivity that every American have access to a quality broadband connection.
The other main takeaway from the Pew Survey--one that applies across the board-- is that there is still no substitute for in-person interactions for enriching our lives. No matter how good and affordable technology gets, we will all still need the human connection that occurs best face-to-face with no screen in between.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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