From doom scrolling to binge watching to video conferencing, technology is used not just for work but to fight pandemic boredom.
With new lockdowns being announced across the world and travel restrictions in place (even between some states in the US), the world now has a second pandemic to add to COVID-19—boredom. For most of us, the cure for boredom is at our fingertips, and wowee—have we used those fingers!
From doom scrolling on social media to binge watching series on streaming services to video conferencing not just with colleagues but with our family and friends—technology has been a lifeline for us to find information, connect with others and keep ourselves entertained. And, of course, for many of us, it is how we get our work done.
What Do the Statistics Show About Rise in Use of Technology?
According to an annual study by Ofcom into UK media habits, adults spent nearly 6 ½ hours per day watching TV and online video and 12M people signed up for new streaming services (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+). The statistics for use of video conference tools are also astounding. Zoom’s revenue has quadrupled during the pandemic, with the tool being used for work, education, telemedicine and socialization. Location has become increasingly unimportant for many workers and students, and it looks like many of these changes are here to stay at least for the foreseeable future.
The “New Abnormal” or Just More of the Norm?
We’ve all heard the term thrown around of “the new abnormal,” but, for many, this is just more of the normal given that the infrastructure for all of these activities was in place long before any of us heard of COVID-19. While certain activities we love might be off the table right now (for example, singing in large groups or going to live concerts and sporting events), for many people, life was already full of technology—from those of us who already worked from home to those of us who were, as my son says, “built for lockdown.”
What Are We Seeing in the Storage Industry?
For the answer to this question, make sure to tune into episode 12 of our Brews & Bytes webcast, Storage Trends to Be Thankful For!, featuring Caringo’s Adrian J Herrera, VP Marketing, TW Cook, VP Engineering, and Tony Barbagallo, CEO. As we head into the holiday season, they will take a look at characteristics of data storage that we can be thankful for and how technology, storage in particular, has played a role in keeping our world connected during the unprecedented events of 2020.
Questions they will address include:
- How has storage evolved over the last decade?
- What true stories can you share about times that organizations were “thankful” for storage?
- Where is storage headed in the coming decade?
Register now to watch live on November 19 or to be notified when the recording is available.
