THE INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The month was December 2019, the new strain of the virus had already taken over the city of Wuhan and breaking out in other parts of China. The World was watching as this health emergency grew, spreading to Europe, the US, Africa, and other parts of the World. Before we knew it, it had become a global health emergency. Alas! It is COIVID-19!

In 2020 the World realized it is in for a big fight. By March Nigeria was forced into lockdown alongside other Countries of the World. People were immediately forced to stop work, business, and recreational activity to stay at home. It was a drastic change in lifestyle for the world. Billions of dollars in business and investment were lost in addition to jobs. And the World was locked at home.

The first week seemed like a public holiday until reality began to dawn on people.  With an immediate change in routine in a total lockdown, there was little to do around the house; with repetition, boredom began to set in and as time went on, depression and other anxiety-related issues were prevalent.

As a result of limited interaction with society, people were left with one way to connect: social media. The year 2020 marked the year of the highest online presence. Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, Zoom, and other online platforms saw a surge in their use. Data use and consumption increased greatly. People began to spend more time online in order to feel more alive and connected.

The internet and social media immediately became the single medium of human connection and interaction across the world. Governments, organizations, friends, all use these mediums to meet, connect and interact. Young people all over the world turned to social media to experience variety, to hang out, and keep communication with friends and families.

Churches, even those who were apathetic to social media began to use these tools to facilitate church service broadcast to their members across the globe. They began to stream services online, share content and keep their members connected throughout the pandemic. A few dynamic schools in Nigeria quickly switched to delivering lectures online- which was pretty remarkable. Companies and organizations - those who could, in time switched to working online.

The internet and social media saved the day during the pandemic. It proved to be an effective medium for global interaction across all facets, also saving certain business and global engagement. In addition, it exposed the inefficiency of many organizations, schools, churches, etc across the world. Some of these organizations who were not tech-savvy were left behind, losing time, growth, and development to catch up with afterwards. Many schools, especially in Nigeria were handicapped. This confirms the fact that the future of the world is technology. The internet of things (IoT) will become more and more dominant in business, industry, education, and household in the coming years. This is an inevitable path to the future and how we, especially the church, prepare to face this matter.

If the internet and social media proved themselves to be indispensable in the past year during the pandemic (and sought of even before), how can we begin to prepare to harness the power of these tools? How do we begin to build the body and exploit its advantages to advance both career and faith in the Christian community? What aspects of it can we tap into? How can we ensure we make productive use of these tools in the coming years? These are questions we all in the Christian tech community must answer before it is too late and we become overwhelmed by the ills that can arise from it.  

As we reflect on these dynamics we must think and consider deeply, its implication, not just for the future, but everyday life. I am interested in where this inquiry leads us.