How the pandemic affected the way we use technology
miserable and a whole lot less safe for many.
Obviously, when this nightmare is over, a lot of people will return to the high street for their shopping, but many will feel no need to do so.
CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS
I CAN’T remember the last time I went to a cashpoint to get real money. I can’t even remember the last time I had cash in my hand.
My wife went to the cashpoint and couldn’t remember her PIN.
Everything I have paid for in person since March has been done with my phone.
Now obviously, ob I’m usually an early ad adopter in these things, but even I was carrying around a wa wallet this time last year. I’ve n no need for that anymore – e every card I need is now stored in my phone.
Of course, there’s no need for that just to use contactless payments – most debit and credit cards c can now touch and go up to a limit of £45 (Apple Pay and Goo Google Pay on mobile often have no limits).
Accor According to trade body UK Finance, in September 64% of debit card payments were contactless – a record high – and the total value of contactless transactions was up more than £1bn year on year to over £8bn.
Cash is not going away soon, but that is certainly the direction of travel.
And these habits, tapping your phone or card to pay, will not be broken by the end of the pandemic. They’re here to stay.
SWITCHING OFF
ONE of the features of lockdown was a real desire to switch off from the constant stream of bad news coming from the outside world and reconnect with nature.
In other words, one of the ways the lockdown changed the way we use technology… was not to use it at all. Or at least to use it more selectively.
We were at home most of the time, as many of us still are, and when we did go out, it was for a walk. A walk with no purpose other than to be outside and find some freedom.
Not just freedom from our own four walls, but from the relentless buzz of 24-hour connectivity.
Government figures suggest almost 40% of people were walking more during the pandemic than before.
The vaccine is on the way to rescue us from our imprisonment, but when it does, it seems likely that those of us who’ve caught the walking bug will not be cured of that.