Opinion

How Has Our Online Behavior Evolved Due To The Pandemic Lockdown

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How Has Our Online Behavior Evolved Due To The Pandemic Lockdown

Photo : pixabay

The pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have changed the lives of billions across the globe. From livelihood to lifestyle, everything has changed substantially for the majority of the population. Interestingly, our online behavior has also changed considerably.

What used to be very common on the internet has now become a rarity whereas, things that were rarely accessed suddenly gained significant popularity. For instance, social media presence has increased considerably as people are trying to find new ways to find new friends or socialize with old friends to bridge the distance. At a time when job loss, salary cuts are rampant, people have discovered a newfound love for online trading in stocks and other derivatives. The majority of the CFD trading brokers have observed a massive increase in the number of new accounts opened during the lockdown.

Studies reveal various other changes in our online behavior - courtesy COVID-induced lockdown. Let us take a look at some of them below.

A discernible change in behavior is the increase in online gaming and streaming content.

As we know, most theatres and movie multiplexes are still hardly operational, making people very much fond of streaming videos on several online channels. Statistics suggest that streaming websites like YouTube and Netflix saw a rise of 15.3% and 16% respectively, in terms of traffic (Source: The New York Times). Similarly, online gaming has also seen a considerable rise compared to the statistics before lockdown. Various production agencies have started premiering their movies and shows on online platforms as the movie theatres are still not operational in many places.

Also, with the reduction in earnings, people have stopped using online gambling websites to a large extent. Thus travel and online gambling websites have been hit quite considerably in the current times.

The travel and tourism industry has been severely impacted.

The restrictions due to lockdown have trapped people inside their homes, making them incapable of traveling anymore. Triggered by the pandemic and lockdown, most of us have shelved all travel plans that reflect in the data stating, 74% of traffic is down on travel websites in the UK (Source).

Rise in searches for "How to" and DIY videos.

With the luxury of spare time now in their hands, people have also started trying their hands on various new things. People have made quite a large number of "How to" searches on different search engines like "How to play guitar" or "How to bake cakes". 

Increase in online trading accounts.

Another major change has been the way people have started investing and trading in the stock market and derivatives market. The lockdown has made it clear that livelihoods are at stake, and people have found out the stock and derivatives market as an alternative way of livelihood. CFD trading brokers are reporting a massive rise in the number of new accounts. The stock market is also flooded with large amounts of retail money that has helped in stabilizing the indices across the world in these trying times. Most people can trade and invest online, so these trading websites have seen massive amounts of traffic that keep increasing as per the available data.

 
This behavioral transformation was inevitable in this pandemic-hit globe, and we can expect this to continue in the foreseeable future as well.

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