COVID-19. Now what?

The world has faced a large amount of setbacks, from two World Wars to different political and economical problems. The most recent, and the one that has the world shocked, is the COVID-19 pandemic. This world-spread disease has affected every person around the globe, as their daily routine has changed drastically.

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Coronavirus by countries, from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Many countries have opted for their lockdown, not allowing non-essential people to go out of their homes. This means schools and universities are canceling their classes and transitioning to remote education. Therefore, use of media also needed to adapt, in order to fulfill all the requirements of the education faculty. As a result, students are using their devices in a different way to what they are used to. Instead of using computers or phones to chat with friends or meet new people, students are using them for their online classes and homework. Since this is not their purpose for most of us (myself included), we are feeling that our understanding of media is shifting from a social place to a work place. For example, danah boyd said in her article that “Teens often turn to sites like MySpace for entertainment; social voyeurism passes time while providing insight into society at large”.

This coronavirus outbreak not only has changed our perception about media, but also how we perceive the world related to media. What I mean with this is that, with schools and colleges closing, not everyone will have high-speed internet connection, or even a device to work on. Also, people can be misinformed about the virus and how to protect themselves from it, since they are not able to receive valid information. We are able to see now that not everyone can afford the necessary technology to be updated, or to work from home, which should be a basic right.

Image from https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/click-for-cash-how-to-make-money-on-the-web-1.3990835

Works cited

boyd, danah. (2007) “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press