Communication innovation: How COVID-19 has influenced communication

Sam Hronek. 8/30/2020

Due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, people around the globe have been placed under self-quarantine and self-isolation. This has made it nearly impossible to communicate with people that are not within one’s household. However, people are adapting to the situation with technology and by contacting each other through apps such as Zoom. Even though many of these online programs have been around since the introduction of Polycom in 2006, popularity for these communicative apps has risen due to the current climate of COVID-19. This begs the question: why do people need to communicate beyond the requirements of a job? Why do people need connections and communication, and how has COVID-19 influenced the way people talk to one another and communicate?

Why People Communicate Psychological evidence states that humans are naturally designed to be social and to communicate with one another. The constant communication throughout the development of cities and cultures has led to a social society designed to talk and share information with one another.

Without contact with other people through social connections, people have been observed to obtain “a number of negative consequences, including deficits in cognitive functioning related to self-regulation and general cognition,” Aaron B. Ball said in his paper, Examining the Effects of Ostracism on Neural and Behavioral Indices of Cognitive Self-Regulation.

“The researchers of the current study found that individuals who experience an event of ostracism exhibited a decrease in error-related negativities (ERN),” Ball said. By using a program in a computerized game of Cyberball, a form of catch using the Internet between users, people would either be ostracized by their computerized opponents by not getting the ball for around 40 to 50 tosses or by not being included in the game as a full participant. The participants did not know that their opponents were computers; rather, the participants were told that they were fellow college students. The study showed that the more times a person was not handed the ball, they would show lower levels of ERN, which is detrimental to aspects of the human mind. The psychological evidence is clear that people need to be included and social in order to keep mental health.

How People Communicate The rise of the Internet has dramatically increased the amount and variety of people communicating with each other. The world is connected via the Internet, letting anyone communicate at any time. “Almost 4.57 billion people were active Internet users as of July 2020, encompassing 59% of the global population. China, India and the United States rank ahead [of] all other countries in terms of Internet users,” J. Clement said in Statistica. By being able to use the Internet on demand, people are able to communicate with anyone at any time.

Even without seeing each other directly, people are still keeping up communication by using apps such as Zoom. Though Zoom does not show the number of users that utilize the service, according to CNBC, “Zoom had 12.92 million monthly active users, up 21% since the end of 2019, citing data from privately held Apptopia,” researchers from Bernstein said. If this estimate is close to the user base of Zoom, then it is evident that people are using these services to continue communication with people even when isolated. With more individuals using Zoom as a meeting and communication interface, people are able to talk with each other face to face from anywhere in the world.

The Future of Communication With changes such as the rise of communication apps, the psychological assistance these programs give individuals and the vast amounts of people using the Internet at any given time, the future of technology will have to adapt to keep up. The fifth generation of communication is starting with implications of 5G towers that have speeds of 20 gigabytes per minute, making calls, downloads and connections near instantaneous. Though the immediate future of communication may be predicted, the possible extent of communication with others in the future remains unknown. What remains clear, however, is that communicating with people is a necessity, and COVID-19 has allowed online programs to rise and help people through dismay.

Cover Photo: (iStock)