Mobile Habits During the Covid-19 Pandemic
By: Alex Kocinski
Ever since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic, people of different backgrounds and generations have come to face a new normal that nobody wanted to go through. Before 2020, people like myself on a regular basis would hang out with their buddies and chat in-person. At Duquesne my freshman year in 2019, it was easier for me to go to PPG Paints Arena to go watch Penguins games not just because of student rush, but also the perk of living only a few minutes walking distance to the arena. When March hit, everything got shut down and put on hold. It felt like the end of the world to many in the world. But, the question rose upon myself, “What is there to do during this pandemic when you cannot go anywhere?”
One big habit that I noticed during the pandemic, especially at the start of it was binge-watching TV shows, movies and documentaries on Netflix. In March, a new documentary called Tiger King took storm with not just the animals but the drama between Joe Exotic and his worst enemy, Carole Baskin. I, like many decided to watch it because what else am I going to do during a global pandemic. I had heard about how it was so interesting with lots of plot twists, but after watching all 7 episodes, I want a 2nd season of Tiger King just to add to the drama there was. With Tiger King premiering in a pandemic, it gave our nation something needed entertainment wise with the many twists and turns of each episode.
Another big habit that I have seen over the course of the last year from the pandemic is the trend of TikTok. TikTok is a mobile app where someone can create a video of themself singing, dancing or just talking about something. According to a study, 63.5 percent of people who use TikTok are under the age of 30 and it says a lot about this generation and the one(s) to follow. With Covid in our lives now, TikTok has had videos with the hashtags of “Covid-19”, “Covid19”, and “Coronavirus” trending on its platform. According to a source, as of July 12, 2020, those hashtags reached 4.4 billion, 33.3 billion and 93.1 billion views and it has climbed up dramatically as each day goes on.
Another big trend in the mobile world during the Covid-19 Pandemic has been the virtual classroom of Zoom. Before the pandemic started, I had no clue what Zoom even was at that point and now I use it almost everyday for not just my virtual classes at Duquesne, but as well as to video chat with my friends from out of state. Within a month of the pandemic, Zoom rose to the top of video conferencing services and I will not lie, I did not think it would work, but now it is very useful for many who cannot see their people in-person. According to Bernstein Research and Apptopia, Zoom has been the #1 top free app for iPhone users since March 18th which is crazy to me but not surprising as well.
WEBS OF INFLUENCE
Over the course of the global pandemic, we have seen the usage of plenty of mobile apps sky-rocket through the roof like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I find it to be very true in the way of it being our news source instead of watching KDKA or WPXI. On YouTube, I have more audio/music videos than what I have seen over the years because people are bored and want to make content to share with the world. Nahai makes a great point about video hosting for business because it is another way to communicate and a better way for tools and analytics that are not used in-person.
SOURCES
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/12/tiger-king-transends-coronavirus-isolation-builds-community-column/5133790002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7455791/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/how-zoom-rose-to-the-top-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic.html
Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion by Nathalie Nahai