2020: A Change In The Facets Of Life – OpEd
Every year in December the whole world prepares itself to step into the New Year. At the same time, a look back at some of the biggest events that happened during the whole year is reviewed in terms of gains and losses and is presented in “A year in review”. Be it concerning the economy, education, health, or any other social event but the whole year is analyzed in terms of accomplishments made during the twelve months. In year-2020 some of the extreme changes have been experienced in each sector of the world and these alterations have given some new directions to all the facets of life. Nothing else but the curse of Covid-19 could be used as a common yardstick to effectively gauge each sector of the world economy as well as every aspect of human life during the year 2020.
The global economies and international business have changed beyond recognition. While this distraction has introduced un-forecasted chaos for most of the businesses, it has also produced an ideal environment for other businesses to thrive in. Businesses such as Amazon and alike have made incremental billions of dollars due to increased sales. No one even in their wildest dreams has predicted such an enormous change in business trends.
Likewise, the education sector has experienced the largest disruption of the education system in history. On one hand, it has not only worsened the existing education disparities but on the other hand; the Covid-19 pandemic has stimulated the distance learning methods and has compromised the quality of education especially in the developing economies due to the lack of proper resources and expertise in ensuring online education. The students are actively using laptops, mobile phones, and other electronic gadgets for online education and uninterrupted internet access is becoming the basic need of human life in 2020. These electronic devices were once assumed to be the prime cause of sleep disorder as well as the loss of vision and their excessive use was always discouraged. Now, even the parents are realizing that their children are spending more time on screens for entertainment rather than studies. But, the viewpoint regarding those concerns is altogether changed in 2020.
Similarly, the perception regarding health considerations has also seen unprecedented trends in 2020 and the patients have clearly shown their worries as far as visiting hospitals for treatment is concerned. Telemedicine has emerged as the clear choice for health care services. While the majority of the developed countries are in a race to find a vaccine for Covid-19, the health experts are raising questions about its rapid development process as well as acceptance by the general public and its timely access in addition to its fair distribution.
Moreover, the terms of socialization have experienced some new dimensions in 2020. Handshakes and hugging while greeting each other is no more required to prove the warmth in your day to day meetings. Social distancing while avoiding unnecessary gatherings would declare you to be more social in the world of Covid-19 during the year 2020 and beyond until the pandemic ends. To cut the long story short, the year 2020 has drastically changed all the different aspects of life.
Now, if the situation doesn’t improve in the coming months, the economically weaker countries will be under severe pressure in resuming the life of their citizens back to normal. No one could exactly predict what life will look like in 2021 but one can only expect and pray that things would not be as miserable as they were this year.
This new pattern of life requiring the use of a mask along with social distancing and other precautionary measures are needed to be adopted before stepping into the New Year. Making ourselves a socially responsible citizen and ensuring a safer life for our families as well as the people around us is the genuine need of the day.
Wish you all a very Happy 2021.
