Technology Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Given that the world is now sheltering at home to reduce transmission of COVID-19, we have become more reliant on technology to get us through our daily rituals.

Video Streaming

Given that schools around the nation have temporarily closed, video streaming has become more popular than ever before. Many working parents like me have probably thrown screen time recommendations out the window to let our mobile devices babysit our children while we work. Therefore, it was not surprising that when I tried to launch a movie on Disney+ on my Apple TV the other day, I was greeted with the following message:

It is well known that Disney+ ran into bandwidth issues with its November 2019 launch. This week, Disney+ reduced bandwidth for its Europe launch in an effort to reduce strain on infrastructure. I suspect that similar supply-demand issues are causing connection problems nowadays. Did you know that you can check Downdetector to see if others are having the same problem?

Video Conferencing

Many workplaces have transitioned to remote work where possible, and this has driven a tremendous increase in demand for video conferencing. Zoom has capitalized on this opportunity, but it has not yet overtaken some of the incumbents in the video conferencing space. We use both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex at my workplace, where Teams had traditionally been used more for internal collaboration, and Webex had been used for external calls. In retrospect, it is fortunate that we have 2 video conferencing services. The day after Microsoft aired a Super Bowl commercial for Teams, most of us were unable to connect to Teams meetings and switched on the fly to Webex. This past week, many of us were able to connect to Webex but unable to get the computer audio to work, so we switched on the fly to Teams. I don’t know the root cause of these issues, but it would not surprise me if their connections were overloaded due to a surge in demand.

Mobile Communication

Finally, with businesses transitioning to remote work, mobile device usage has been rising. Wireless service providers are recognizing the need for increased communication during the pandemic, and I was pleasantly surprised to receive the following notification from Verizon Wireless:

What other ways have you leveraged technology to get through your day, and what kinds of unintended consequences have you witnessed? Regardless, I hope you stay safe, productive, and connected (at a distance, of course).