KJs World

Blog Post #1: COVID, Technology, & Existential Crises

​By: Katy Johnson

The COVID-19 pandemic affected us all inexplicably, and for most of us in ways we are still trying to process. For me personally, one of the most dramatic changes in my lifestyle due to the pandemic has been my use of technology. Simply put, my use of technology has increased drastically. Partly in play here is my own personal lifestyle choices, but for the most part, my increased technology use in educational settings…well lets just say, has been against my will.
The pandemic gave me a lot more free time than I have ever had available, especially in the middle of the lock-down of 2020. While a lot of this time was used to discover new hobbies, perform deep dives on random topics I had always longed to learn about, & navigating multiple existential crises a day, I also noticed that my screen time substantially increased. Technology played a crucial role in staying connected with friends and family, and multiple hours per day was spent texting or FaceTiming my loved ones. Besides this, all that free time with nowhere to go made self-discipline really hard and I would fall into black holes on social media for hours at a time. The duality of this situation was very strange; on one hand, seeing and relating to what others were going through on social media (TikTok) made me feel a little more sane, less alone. But at the exact same time, all that time spent on social media made me feel more alone than ever. Ever since then, my relationship to social media has not quite been the same, and rightfully so: social media is addictive and the pandemic drove me into addiction with it.
While my personal use of technology was within my control, technology as it was and continues to be used for school is a completely different story. The sudden switch over from in-person to completely online school was a really tough transition for me. I learned pretty quickly that I do not thrive in online learning environments. Classes held through zoom were not able to keep my attention for their entirety, not to mention being cooped up in my apartment with no contact with my peers or professors was not a good pairing with my already raging mental health issues. It was really hard, but it was also the only option. As someone who genuinely enjoys learning and receiving an education, I was really discouraged when my passion seemingly disappeared. What I was going through was not by any means out of the ordinary, though. According to Pew Research Center, “three-quarters of those…on video calls several times a day in the pandemic [said] they feel worn out” (The Internet and the Pandemic, 33). Although I didn’t have the language for it at the time, what I was experiencing was called zoom fatigue, and 74% of people were experiencing it. Online learning wasn’t for me, but it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for those who enjoyed or even preferred it to in-person learning. These days, college students have the opportunity to choose between in-person, online, or even hybrid classes for almost any course out there. I am glad that we all have the option to choose what resonates with us individually, and that online courses are now available to those who need it.
As the world moves onwards from the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, I don’t see things ever going back to the way they were before. So many parts of our lives have been digitized, for better or worse I am unable to say. But, I do believe that in order to ensure everyone is included in this new technology centered society, there are several shifts that need to be made in our future. A video by FUSION from 2015 reported 75 million Americans were without internet access, a more recent study by the FCC reports this number sitting at 19 million Americans going without internet access in 2022. These numbers are staggering, considering how central technology is in contemporary society. The short clip by FUSION follows one family that doesn’t have internet access, and the lengths they must go to in order to be functioning members of society. COVID completely changed the way we use technology, and it’s only fair that if we continue to occupy digital spaces at the level we are, we make it a priority to leave no one behind.

Sources:
Pew Research Center. (2021, September 1). The Internet and the Pandemic. PDF. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
This is fusion. (2015, January 28). 75 million Americans don't have internet. here's what it's like. YouTube. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7I2YiobGKU&t=4s