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The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19

A Project Submitted to
University of Mumbai for partial completion of the degree of
Master in Commerce
Under the faculty of commerce

By
Priyanka Mishra

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Saumitra Sawant

Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, B-

Road, Churchgate, Mumbai : 400 020

October 2022

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 Index
Chapter No. Title Page No.
1. The Internet of Things: Perspectives and Challenges 9-19
1. Six Good Reasons Why the Internet Is Good
2. Important Services Provided by the Internet
3. The Advantages of Electronic Communication Devices
4. What Kind of Jobs Do Robots Do?
5. What Are the Benefits of Computers in Society?
6. Is it Illegal to Access Someone's Facebook Account?
2 Impact of digital surge during Covid-19 pandemic: A viewpoint
on research and practice 20-28
1. Introduction
2. Scenarios and research issues of the digital surge
3. Implications for research
4. conclusion

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 Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, B- Road, Churchgate,

Mumbai : 400 020

Certificate
This is to certify that Ms/Mr has worked and duly completed her/his Project Work for the degree
of Master in Commerce Under the Faculty of Commerce in the subject of __________________
___________________________ and his/her project is entitled, “ The Impact Of Digital
Technology On Human Life During COVID-19" under my supervision.
I further certify that the entire work has been done by the learner under my guidance and that no
part of it has been submitted previously for any Degree or Diploma of any University.
It is her/his own work and facts reported by her/his personal findings and investigations.

Name and Signature of

Guiding teacher

Date of Submission:

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 Declaration by Learner

I the undersigned Miss / Mr. Priyanka Mishra here by, declare that the work embodied in this
project work titled “The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19"
forms my own contribution to the research work carried out under the guidance of Dr. Saumitra
Sawant is a result of my own research work and has not been previously submitted to any other
University for any other Degree/ Diploma to this or any other University.

Wherever reference has been made to previous works of others, it has been clearly indicated as
such and included in the bibliography.

I, here by further declare that all information of this document has been obtained and presented
in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct.

Name and Signature of the Larmer

Certified by

Name and signature of the Guiding Teacher

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 Acknowledgement

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the dept is so
enormous.
I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in
the completion of this project.
I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me the chance to do this
project.
I would like to thank my Principal, Dr. Madhuri Kagalkar for providing the necessary
facilities required for completion of this project.
I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator for her moral support and
guidance.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide whose
guidance and care made the project successful.
I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books and
magazines related to my project.
Lastly, I would also like thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me in the
completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported me throughout my
project.

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 The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19

Introduction: Digital technology and its increasing prevalence have impacted human life
radically in the last few decades. From the advent of the digital society, spawned by the
invention of the computer and ENIAC, one of the first digital computers in 1946, to the present
day, digital technology and computing have worked their way into more areas of life, from
communications to finance to social interaction. You can see the impact daily in homes, schools
and offices.
Internet
The Internet has brought an almost infinite amount of information right into your home and
workplace. Increasingly, this information is also available to you while you are on the road as
well. As a result, you have access to massive amounts of human knowledge in the time it takes to
download a web page. Many jobs that were once only possible with access to research libraries
or other institutions can be done now from your home, or anywhere. A company's work force has
become dispersed as satellite offices can operate as if they were all centrally located. The digital
technology has also created new opportunities for remote employment. These workplace changes
are restructuring the face of the workforce and the possibilities for how individual lives are
structured as well. There have been correspondingly great changes in retail, banking and other
industries.
Communication
The ability to compress millions of transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail has allowed the
advent of portable cellular communications. Cell phones, not so long ago a luxury, are now
ubiquitous, and some people use them to the exclusion of traditional land-line telephones. This
makes cell phone users universally available and brings enormous communications capacity
right to your pocket or purse. With it comes real or implied expectations of universal availability.
It is now sometimes impossible really to get away from work, as cell phones and BlackBerrys
with email capacity are functional almost anywhere on the globe. As a result, these digital
communications tools make workers more productive, but they also make the employee more

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connected to the place of work. Work hours have increased as technological breakthroughs that
were meant to save time keep many working harder and longer.

Social
Social networking, using applications such as MySpace and Facebook, can put people in touch
with each other in ways that could not have been imaged prior to digital technology. The speed
and reach of contacts you can make and maintain means that everyone is findable and reachable
with a quick search engine query and an email. This means you can keep up with friends that live
half a globe away with ease and also means being contacted by persons you thought you might
never see again.

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 Chapter 1- The Internet of Things: Perspectives and Challenges

1.1 Six Good Reasons Why the Internet Is Good

According to a Pew January 2014 survey, American adult Internet usage has increased about 73
percent since the 1995. Americans live at least some portion of their lives online. While some
might claim the Internet is chaining us to our devices, causing us to shun human contact -- and
sometimes sunshine -- the Internet has also given us new ways to communicate, learn, and
explore the world at large.
Sharing and the New Media
Anyone can share information with the click of a mouse because of the Internet. Digital media
are easy to share and easy to create. A content creator needs a digital camera and an Internet
connection to upload his next movie; YouTube allowed beauty guru Michelle Phan to launch a
beauty empire from her living room. Even as traditional media expanded their reach into
consumers' homes through the Internet, new platforms emerged online like Netflix, Amazon
Prime, and HBO Go. According to Forbes, Netflix has outpaced cable companies in viewers.

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You've Got Mail
An Internet connection provides a channel for deepening human connections across the globe.
Staying in touch with your kid in college or your family on another continent is a snap with
email. The low cost of communicating on the Internet has also revolutionized telephonic and
televideo service. Next time you need to talk to a friend or schedule a job interview, make it face
to face. Services like Skype and Facetime make distance irrelevant. Friends across the globe can
engage in conversation in the comfort of their own homes.
Social Networks
Social media have made it easier to connect with other people and expand your social circle --
which need not depend on who you meet face to face in your everyday life. Not only can you
now contact anyone with an Internet connection, you can watch their lives unfold in real time,
and record the events in yours. Vacation photos go up on Facebook and Instagram, and dates are
scheduled on Tinder. Social networks enable users to share more parts of their lives than ever
before.
Beyond the Bank
Digital money makes it easier for anyone to facilitate financial transactions. Whether you use
PayPal or Venmo, the Internet has lowered the cost of doing business. If you need some help
starting a business or funding a great idea, crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo can help anyone
with a compelling story get started. Thanks to the Internet, new financial tools are changing the
way we think about money and doing business.
The Sharing Economy
Sharing economies are making the way people live their lives more efficient. Traditional
businesses are facing the innovations that peer-to-peer communication and knowledge-sharing
bring to the economy. Thanks to Uber, for example, cars that otherwise would travel half-empty
are making money. AirBNB allows individual to make extra income on an empty room. The
Internet allows individuals to expand their reach into new markets, improving the condition of
their bank accounts in the process.

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Education
One of the most valuable things the Internet has brought us is a new and improved access to
education. Students of all ages and abilities need not depend on conventional classrooms to learn.
Students supplement classroom learning with Skype tutors or a review session with an online
video tutorial. The Internet has helped democratize education. For example, the New York
TImes reported, Google has been working on ways to bring the Internet to remote areas of
Africa, providing small, marginal villages with new ways of gaining access to information and
working and communicating over long distances with friends, colleagues and family.

1.2 Important Services Provided by the Internet

In this modern world, the Internet has become essential to living, working and easily
communicating with people, whether in the next room or on the other side of the world. Some
important services provided by the Internet have become commonplace, like email, the World
Wide Web and easy, instant access to all types of information. These now common services
allow people to become a part of the much bigger world. Communication, education, e-
commerce and unlimited access to information found on the Internet provide innumerable
benefits.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web and the Internet function together but are not the same thing. The World
Wide Web functions as the part of the Internet accessible to users. The Internet serves as a vast
electronic communications network and the World Wide Web makes navigation on the Internet
easier by utilizing hypertext links and graphical user interfaces between different addresses on
computers around the world. Think of the Internet as providing the foundation and structure
while the Web uses the Internet to provide communications, information and access to all sorts
of digital services.

The Internet provides easy access to many important services.

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Electronic Mail
More commonly known as email, electronic mail started as an afterthought to the Internet.
Today, email holds the number one position as the most popular service offered on the Internet.
A protocol for sending, receiving and storing electronic messages, email has become the
preferred method of communication. The U.S. Postal Service handles around 200 billion pieces
of mail each year. Email service on the Internet handles around 247 billion emails every day.
Health Information Access
Individual computers may remotely access information stored on other computers or servers
anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. The Pew Research Center estimates that 59% of
adults go on the Internet to seek health information. 80% of caregivers have access to the
Internet and use that access to health information to assist with their day-to-day job duties.
Internet access to health information may improve quality of care, provide 24-hour access to
medical or health information and allow more efficient handling of specific health issues.
E-Commerce
The ability to do business without the usual constraints of time or distance make e-commerce
one of the most important services provided by the Internet. With the single click of a mouse,
online customers can purchase almost anything day or night from the comfort of their own home.
Since human interaction and the need for an actual brick-and-mortar location do not figure into
the e-commerce equation, doing business on the Internet does not cost as much. This levels the
business playing field and allows small business to compete with large corporations.

1.3 The Advantages of Electronic Communication Devices

Electronic communication uses computers, cell phones and other devices to transmit messages. It
has developed into an everyday part of millions of people's lives. As the technology develops
more sophisticated electronic devices for communication are introduced frequently paving the
way for a greater variety of ways to communicate electronically.
Convenience
Convenience is a major factor in the use of electronic communication devices. There is a greater
level of ease attached to the use of the Internet and cell phones to communicate. Email enables
you to send messages without much movement and effort compared to sending mail by post. The
Internet is also a wealth of resources such as books, journals, and online stores where you can
access anything you want. Cell phones are a source of convenience; they allow you to make a
call to anyone irrespective of time, and distance.

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Accessibility
Electronic communication devices are easily accessible to people who would otherwise not have
other modes of communication. In developing countries people who never owned a home
telephone have cell phones. Cell phones also continue to evolve at a rapid rate. Many are now
available that provide three or four ways to communicate, such as Internet connections, text
messaging and standard phone links.
Global Connectivity
Global connectivity is the latest phenomenon to arise with the use of electronic media. The
internet, cellphones, and television have influenced the formation of a global culture. People are
able to share fashion trends, activities, news, and current behaviors only by a click of a mouse or
a remote. International news television stations such as CNN enable people to access global
events and news as they unfold, irrespective of their geographical location. Electronic media
enables operators to share information to a global audience; with the use of cellphones it is now
possible to call all over the world and share news as if in the same location.
Networking
The rise of social media enhances networking and friendships around the world. The rise of
networking sites such as Facebook, and Twitter gives rise to worldwide connections and opens
up channels for people to group according to interests. Social media serves as a platform for
users to market talents, and products. With such platforms, there is a rise of new culture and
language common among friends in these networks. The networks have also been used to
propagate social and political movements such as the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

1.4 What Kind of Jobs Do Robots Do?

Robots perform jobs that humans find dull, dangerous or difficult. Either labor intensive or
mundane, robots can be adapted to a variety of tasks. Industry, farming, medicine, the military,
and space have all seen the expansion of robotics in their practice. The home has also become a
hotbed for technology, as many appliances have now become "smart" devices over the years.
The impact on humans is varied, but the utilization of robots will continue throughout this
century and beyond.

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Features
In 1961, General Motors installed the Unimate in a New Jersey factory. This was the first
industrial robot. Created by George Devol, Unimate was designed to weld die-casts onto auto
bodies. This revolutionized the automobile industry and had lasting impact on various other
factories as they took GM's cue and began installing robots of their own.

Today, industrial robots perform a variety of tasks such as spot and gas welding, sealing,
assembly, and handling various tools. Any form of heavy labor can now be performed by a
robot. Companies such as Caterpillar are making headway in automating even more of its heavy
equipment. They have successfully launched the first remote controlled cranes and plan for full
automation by 2021.
Function
Most robots work under the supervision of humans. Farmers have begun to utilize robotic
harvesting equipment to handle a larger volume of land with less human labor. Workers in
dangerous or hazardous environments have begun to utilize remote reconnaissance robots to test
conditions and structural integrity of various environments. The Pioneer robot used at the
Chernobyl disaster site is an example of this. It allowed investigation of the still-radioactive
environment without endangering any human lives.

The United States military has begun to automate much of its forces. With the development of
unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles like the Predator, the pilot has been removed from
combat and placed in a safe environment far away. Front line ordinance robots have saved many
lives by remotely detonating improvised explosive devices. The U.S. Navy also plans to turn
portions of its fleet into fully remote controlled vehicles controlled from a central location such
as an aircraft carrier.
Significance
The robot has permeated its existence inside every home in America. Simple appliances like
toasters, microwaves and stoves are now essentially robots. They are complete with
microprocessors and low-level artificial intelligence designed to prevent damage or fires. The
Roomba, a small robotic vacuum cleaner, has become a highly marketed success with
homemakers, taking on a redundant task with proficiency. "Smart" appliances, such as talking

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refrigerators and alarm clocks that walk away from you when you hit snooze, are beginning to
make their way into the marketplace.

Toys have been one of the boons for the robotics industry. Beginning with the success of the
very low-level Furby, toy robots have grown more interactive. They are supplanting other forms
of entertainment for children. Advances in development have made these toys more interactive,
and their learning speed has increased.
Benefits
Humanity as a whole benefits from the existence of robots and their various tasks. This can be
seen most effectively in the medical industry. Remote surgery is a reality due to robotics,
allowing a doctor to perform detailed surgical procedures from anywhere on the planet. The Da
Vinci robotic assistant is the best example of how doctors have implemented this fact.
Laboratories have begun to utilize robots of their own to handle redundant analysis and perform
basic procedures to allow human technicians to focus on other tasks. With the rising demand for
health care, the continued expansion of robots in the medical industry will prove to be a fast
growing field.
Potential
One of the facts of robots in the workplace is their replacement of human beings for certain
tasks. This can be seen most dramatically in space exploration. Missions that used to need a
human to perform are now more conveniently and safely being conducted by robots, either
autonomous or remote controlled from Earth. The Mars landers Spirit and Opportunity have
performed their missions above and beyond what was originally predicted, lasting years longer
than a human expedition could have and retrieving information over greater distances than would
otherwise have been possible. The fact that NASA has chosen to move in the direction of
unmanned spacecraft and probes has greatly driven down costs. It allowed for more expansive
missions that continue for years.

1.5 What Are the Benefits of Computers in Society?

Ever since the first IBM PC was sold in 1981 and the bundling of Microsoft's Windows
Operating System on subsequent easy-to-use PCs, computers have revolutionized the way
individuals, students and enterprises work, communicate, live, educate and entertain. Computers

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are now integral to virtually every possible human and non-human activity. The benefits of
computers to society are manifold.

Woman working on a laptop at her desk

Image Credit: Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock/Getty Images

Work
Computers are now used in every domain, field and sector and across industries. They are used
for a variety of tasks, applications and activities and to enhance productivity on all fronts.
Communication
The advent of the Internet and its proliferation have force-multiplied the usage of computers.
People all over the world are able to communicate, engage and interact with each other using IM,
email, blogs, online forums, social media and other options.
Jobs Influence
The widespread use and application of computers has created multiple industries, derived sectors
and professions and facilitated job opportunities for millions of people.
Entertainment
High-end desktops and full-featured notebook PCs have become all-in-one entertainment
systems for millions of users as they watch movies, sports events and news programs, shop,
socialize, download videos and play games.
Education
Computers have simplified and streamlined the process of education for millions of young teens,
college going students and post-graduates. The use of computers has democratized the influence,

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reach and penetration of education and knowledge to students in far-flung and geographically
remote regions.

1.6 Is it Illegal to Access Someone's Facebook Account?

In 2009, the population of Facebook eclipsed the total population of the United States. As we
rely more and more on Facebook as a communications platform, it is important that we also
know fully our legal rights and protections.

History

Digital privacy is a murky legal area.

Digital privacy is often a murky legal area due to outdated or plainly inapplicable laws written in
the 1980s, well before the advent of social networking. Sociologist Orin Kerr reports that
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and Stored Communications Act (SCA) are the
laws largely responsible for safeguarding our privacy online.

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Facebook Terms of Service (TOS)

Facebook TOS make it clear that unauthorized access to someone elses accounts will result in
suspension from Facebook.

The Facebook TOS makes it clear that unauthorized access of accounts which belong to someone
else is a violation of their terms of services and will result in suspension from Facebook.
Federal Laws

Originally the ECPA and SCA were meant to protect digital messages.

As mentioned above, the ECPA and SCA are federal laws which protect digital communications.
Originally these laws prevented government access to email and other stored messages, but the
laws have been broadened to legally protect unauthorized access from private individuals.

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Misconceptions

It is always against the law to access someone's stored communications without permission.

Accessing someone's account because you know their Facebook password does not make the
unauthorized intrusion legal. It is always against the law to access someone's stored
communications without permission.
Warning

Accessing someone's digital communications without authorization is always prohibited by law.

Accessing someone's digital communications without authorization is prohibited by law, no

matter the circumstances.

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Chapter-2 Impact of digital surge during Covid-19 pandemic: A viewpoint on
research and practice
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an inevitable surge in the use of digital technologies due to
the social distancing norms and nationwide lockdowns. People and organizations all over the
world have had to adjust to new ways of work and life. We explore possible scenarios of the
digital surge and the research issues that arise.
An increase in digitalization is leading firms and educational institutions to shift to work-from-
home (WFH). Blockchain technology will become important and will entail research on design
and regulations. Gig workers and the gig economy is likely to increase in scale, raising questions
of work allocation, collaboration, motivation, and aspects of work overload and presenteeism.
Workplace monitoring and technostress issues will become prominent with an increase in digital
presence. Online fraud is likely to grow, along with research on managing security. The
regulation of the internet, a key resource, will be crucial post-pandemic.
Research may address the consequences and causes of the digital divide. Further, the issues of
net neutrality and zero-rating plans will merit scrutiny. A key research issue will also be the
impact and consequences of internet shutdowns, frequently resorted to by countries. Digital
money, too, assumes importance in crisis situations and research will address their adoption,
consequences, and mode. Aspects of surveillance and privacy gain importance with increased
digital usage.
Keywords: Digital surge, Gig work, Internet governance, Digital payments, Post-pandemic
1. Introduction
By late May 2020, at the time of writing of this article, over 200 countries and territories in the
world were affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. This included most urban clusters and even
rural regions.
With the spread of the pandemic, almost all regions have implemented lockdowns, shutting
down activities that require human gathering and interactions - including colleges, schools,
malls, temples, offices, airports, and railway stations. The lockdown has resulted in most people
taking to the internet and internet-based services to communicate, interact, and continue with
their job responsibilities from home. Internet services have seen rises in usage from 40 % to 100
%, compared to pre-lockdown levels. Video-conferencing services like Zoom have seen a ten
times increase in usage, and content delivery services like Akamai have seen a 30 % increase in
content usage (Branscombe, 2020). Cities like Bangalore have seen a 100 % increase in internet
traffic.
The lockdowns across countries have entailed a rise in the use of information systems and
networks, with massive changes in usage patterns and usage behaviour. Employees are adjusting
to new "normals” - with meetings going completely online, office work shifting to the home,
with new emerging patterns of work. These changes have come across most organizations,
whether in business, society, or government. The changes have also come suddenly, with barely
any time for organizations and people to plan for, prepare and implement new setups and
arrangements; they have had to adjust, try, experiment, and find ways that did not exist before.
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Though now, in late May 2020, the pandemic is receding and stabilized in certain countries, it is
still on the increase in many others, and with serious threats. Experts in most countries are wary
of the possibility of the disease spread re-emerging, and that lockdown norms may be relaxed
carefully and slowly with social distancing at the core of the new normal.
It is in this context that we see the use of information systems to continue in the same vein for
some time in the foreseeable future as during the lockdown. We examine the possible scenarios
in this surge in information technology usage during and post the pandemic. Our estimation of
these effects assumes that there was a digital transformation already underway, before the
pandemic set in, and it will take certain forms owing to the impact of the lockdowns.
In the next section, we examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the use of digital
technologies, where we discuss some possible scenarios and research issues of the post-
pandemic world. The next section summarizes the implications for research and practice, and in
the last section, we present our conclusions.
2. Scenarios and research issues of the digital surge
In this section, we discuss some of the most pressing issues regarding the post-pandemic digital
surge. These themes reveal the multiple directions in which IS research can focus in relation to
impacts on technology.
2.1. Increasing digitalization
As the use of video- and audio-conferencing tools increases significantly, organizations will
ramp up their technology infrastructure to account for the surge. This will lead to increased
investment in bandwidth expansion, network equipment, and software that leverages cloud
services. With employees becoming acclimatized to the idea of work-from-home (WFH),
meeting and transacting online, firms will shift to WFH as a norm rather than as an exception.
This is being adopted by many firms (Akala, 2020; BBC News, 2020; Khetarpal, 2020), which
have the digital infrastructure in place to handle the required load and bandwidth.
Education is another domain in which there a dramatic shift to the online mode of transacting.
Since the beginning of the lockdown, schools, colleges, and universities around the world have
shifted their classes to video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. Along with
these synchronous modes of teaching, asynchronous platforms like edX and Coursera have also
seen an increase in enrolments (Shah, 2020). Some institutions are now shifting entirely to the
online mode for the forthcoming academic year, with the exception of sessions that require a
physical presence, such as the University of Cambridge in the UK and the California State
system in the US (New York Times, 2020).
Digital transformation technologies such as Cloud, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Blockchain (BC),
Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML), constitute a bulk of the of what is being
adopted by organizations as part of their transformation effort.
Blockchain (BC) technology presents an opportunity to create secure and trusted information
control mechanisms (Upadhyay, 2020). As education and healthcare services witnesses a shift to
the digital domain, BCs enable a way to secure and authenticate certificates, health records,

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medical records, and prescriptions. Research on the design of such systems, along with
maintaining their ease-of-use and usefulness will gain importance. Another issue is that of
designing systems that work with smart contracts – how the contracts are authenticated, how
these contracts will be designed in a complex chain of processes with many agents involved, and
how arbitration related to contracts will be handled. Further, IS research may point to regulatory
aspects of BCs with regard to what must be encrypted and shared (such as for authenticating
news and information sources), and how security will be managed. For instance, government
demand for access to private keys to view blocks for surveillance and monitoring, versus the
requirements of privacy and protection from persecution.
2.2. Work-from-home and gig workers
The gig economy is driven by online platforms that hire workers on an ad hoc, short-contract,
and mostly informal basis. Well-known examples of these include Uber and Airbnb globally and
Ola and Swiggy in India. These platforms have grown immensely since the wide availability of
smartphones from 2010 onwards. During the lockdown, workers employed by these platforms
have suffered heavily, as the demand for their services, taxi rides, rentals, or skill work, has
disappeared (Bhattacharya, 2020). Further, since these workers had no guaranteed salaries, their
incomes dropped dramatically.
In the post-pandemic scenario, there is likely to be, in the short term, a slow return of gig
economy workers, as manufacturing and service firms return to their old activities. However, we
anticipate that in the longer term as the threat of infection and spread recedes, the gig economy
will thrive. This will also be driven by the WFH culture.
Work-from-home and gig work has received attention in IS research, through topics in
telecommuting, digital nomads, and virtual teams. One key issue is that of work allocation and
collaboration, across and inside teams, and across projects. This issue will face a rise in scale and
importance in the post-pandemic world, as the numbers of WFH and gig workers increase.
Research may focus on aspects of the design of work norms, work contracts, trust-building, and
team-building, amongst others.
Research on telecommuting and virtual teams (Belanger, Collins, & Cheney, 2001; Morrison-
Smith & Ruiz, 2020) has a long history in IS literature. Issues include the nature of “distance”
whether temporal, spatial, or cultural, and the psychological needs of workers, the technological
support and design for this kind of work, and many others. This research is important for the
post-pandemic period.
We anticipate that the “dark side” of virtual teams and dispersed work also assumes importance
in the post-pandemic world. Substantive issues related to technostress - particularly work
overload and presenteeism arise in these situations. Research will have to address issues of
design of collaborative work, evaluation, team performance and motivation, stress, and the issue
of continuous learning.
2.3. Workplace monitoring and technostress
Another aspect of digital use by large sections of the working population is that of constant
workplace monitoring and being on-the-job continuously. Those working from home using video

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conferencing technology find themselves under intense scrutiny and all interactions are “hyper-
focused” (Kalia, 2020). Digital technology makes it easier for bosses and managers to call and
locate subordinates at any time, knowing that they can be reached at all times. Though there is
anecdotal early evidence that this has led to an increase in productivity, it has also led to
increased technostress (Ayyagari, Grover, & Purvis, 2011; Tarafdar, Tu, Ragu-Nathan, & Ragu-
Nathan, 2007) where employees must learn new technologies, be available for work at almost all
times, stay with digital devices all the time, and cope with multi-tasking.
Post-pandemic, it is likely that workers' organizations will demand no-digital hours, where they
will find refuge from the constant work pressure. Research may address the concerns of work
equity, balance, and managing stress.
2.4. Online fraud
Along with the surge in the use of digital technologies, we are now witnessing a rise in online
fraud, scams, intrusions, and security breaches. The pandemic has created a scenario of
insecurity that is inviting fraudsters to exploit the crisis situation by extracting money or
information or by creating vulnerabilities (Agarwal, Sengupta, Kulshrestha, Anand, & Guha,
2017) Many users are beginning to rely on digital resources extensively, some for the first time,
and are becoming targets for fraud and scams. Organizations and governments are aware of this
threat and are taking countermeasures – for instance, some governments took a strong stand
against Zoom sessions for education, forcing the platform provider to upgrade security (Yu,
2020).
It is likely that these scams and frauds will increase in intensity after the pandemic.
Organizations will implement massive security arrangements, along with extensive information
campaigns by government departments. Security innovations and firms that offer security
services will rise. Research will likely focus on managing security, assess the causes of breaches,
and the economic and social loss from them.
2.5. Internet access and digital divide
Information technology, and particularly the internet, will remain central to the post-pandemic
scenario, where innovations will drive the surge in use. A key aspect of this surge will be the
management and regulation of the internet itself. Though the internet is a global resource and no
one country can control its protocols and features, its local access and availability remain an in-
country issue. During the pandemic too some countries have restricted access to the internet
(Chhibber, 2020), for certain reasons.
The regulation of the internet will become crucial after the pandemic as it will remain a policy
tool for governments. They can intercede on aspects of monitoring, bandwidth control,
surveillance, intermediary liability, and e-commerce.
The pandemic has brought the world to a situation where those not connected to the internet are
facing total exclusion. With strict social and physical distancing measures in place, new routines
require accessing the internet for most services. Hence, those on the wrong side of the digital
divide are completely left out. Reasons for the divide are many: unaffordable device access,
unaffordable Internet access, content relevance, access skills or government ordered Internet

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shutdowns(Armbrecht, 2016; Scheerder, van Deursen, & van Dijk, 2017) In developing
countries, the condition is more serious. Thus, it becomes extremely important to explore the
possibilities of ensuring connectivity. Although these issues have been researched and discussed
earlier (Warschauer, 2004), COVID-19 has brought about a situation where internet access
seems to have become necessary for survival. As a few studies have suggested, access or no-
access to ICTs may reinforce societal inequalities (Ragnedda, 2017), where the post-pandemic
situation may enhance this further. With substantial use of technology in accessing basic
requirements like health and education, it is imperative to understand the impact of the digital
divide on social equality. Therefore, it calls for researchers to examine the impact of connectivity
to draw policymakers’ interest and, perhaps, offer ways to enhance it towards better inclusion.
2.6. Internet governance: net neutrality and zero-rating
Heavy use of the internet during the pandemic, for various purposes, has raised people's data
requirements. With a significant digital divide in societies, this surge in the Internet data
requirement has revived the discussion on zero-rating plans.
Zero-rating plans enable firms to let users access data from their sites and services, without
having to bear data charges. Usually, this is not strictly permitted as it violates the basic
principles of net neutrality, where internet traffic has to have the same priority and cost.
India, for instance, had an exemplary record of regulating zero-rating plans. Although the
government did not permit the implementation of such plans, in the aftermath of the pandemic,
the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) decided to allow waiving charges for data and
voice for certain websites (; COAI, 2020). The list primarily consisted of the sites related to
COVID-19 - such as the World Health Organisation and India’s Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare. The list also included some private players. The principal aim was to allow people,
across all socio-economic levels, access COVID-19 related information.
Given that zero-rating plans can be useful in exceptional circumstances, as is evident from the
example of India, research on the conditions on various parameters where allowing ZR plans
may increase social welfare has enormous practical implications, both for firms as well as
regulators. The existing literature on net-neutrality regulations and zero-rating plans (Belli, 2017;
Cho, Qiu, & Bandyopadhyay, 2016) forms the basis to enhance research in this aspect. Issues to
be studied include: expanding telecom infrastructure, providing subsidized internet devices, free
extra data, or waiving off users’ subscription fees (Shashidhar, 2020)
2.7. Internet governance: shutdowns
In current times, when the productivity of people depends significantly on the internet, its
shutdown can be extremely detrimental to societies (ISOC, 2019) However, internet shutdowns
are not uncommon even in times like these. The internet was shutdown in Kashmir, a union
territory in India, since August 5th, 2019 and continued till May 2020, making it the longest ever
imposed in a democracy (Masih, Irfan, & Slater, 2019) Basic internet services, such as filing for
driving licenses, were accessed by locals using the Internet Express, which is a train that shuttles
Kashmiris to the nearest town where they can get online. The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce
estimates $1.4 billion in losses owing to the internet shutdown (Masih et al., 2019). Similar

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events are regularly noted across various other countries, Arab Spring being the significant
starting point.
With the pandemic, when the internet has become the most important tool available to citizens,
the impact of Internet shutdowns has become grimmer. Shutdowns lead to severe implications
for all aspects of life, and there are many issues that require research in this regard. The impacts
resulting from a climate of uncertainty can potentially discourage foreign investors and spill over
to a wide range of sectors, including education, healthcare, press and news media, and e-
commerce (Kathuria, Kedia, Verma, Bagchi, & Sekhani, 2018). It is important to understand the
far-reaching human rights impact of internet shutdowns, which are exacerbated in the current
scenario. Shutdowns have deep political reasons and in many cases the consequences are
indeterminate. Research can focus on aspects of domino-effect consequences leading to grave
political crises.
2.8. Digital money
Digital payments and digital currencies are likely to have a key role in the post-pandemic
situation. As digital payments are contact-less they will be encouraged by governments, and will
likely see a surge. This will also be boosted by the gig economy and WFH situations.
There are two distinct phenomena related to digital money that has aided the fight during the
pandemic. First, banknotes and coins were suspected to be carrying the virus and digital payment
was preferred to the ‘dirty money’ (Gardner, 2020; Samantha, 2020). Online delivery services
were encouraging customers to make payments through digital payment systems like a
credit/debit card or mobile payments, with mandates by the government in several parts of India
(Bhandari, 2020). This is likely to result in a surge in digital payment usage, which will lead to
work on the diffusion of digital payment technology. Second, during the lockdown, there was a
loss of jobs, and governments provided aid through payment apps and digital payment modes.
These are a convenient mode of fund transfer from donors to recipients, as seen in previous crisis
relief cases as well (Pollach, Treiblmaier, & Floh, 2005). In various crisis and disaster events,
where the mobility of civilians was restrained, many mobile payment service providers (e.g.
Vodafone in Afghanistan, Safaricom in Kenya, and Orange in Africa) provided quick funds
transfer of remittances from migrants to their homes, and relief aid from the government to
victims (Aker, Boumnijel, McClelland, & Tierney, 2016; Pega, Liu, Walter, & Lhachimi, 2015;
Wachanga, 2015). This is once again observed in the Covid-19 crisis and needs further
examination.
2.9. Surveillance and privacy
Issues of surveillance and privacy are gaining prominence with digital usage during lockdowns.
Commentators, such as Yuval Harari, have written about the potential for state surveillance
“under the skin” (Harari, 2020) as governments rely on digital means to monitor the spread of
the pandemic. As many governments have started using apps on smartphones to monitor infected
persons and trace their contacts, civil society organizations have raised privacy and state
surveillance concerns (Pant & Lal, 2020). Post-pandemic, these measures of monitoring
populations for epidemiological reasons with digital means are likely to continue and become

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prevalent. Though the concerns of privacy and surveillance are valid and have to be addressed,
these digital platforms are the most reliable and efficient way of tracking disease spread.
“Surveillance is a distinctive product of the modern world” (Misa, Brey, & Feenberg, 2003, p.
161), and today we are living in a surveillance society where any internet-based activity using a
mobile phone or other electronic gadgets can be monitored and accessed in unfathomable ways
(Gilliom & Monahan, 2012; Lyon, 1994). This has resulted in a surge in IS research on
implications of such web or app-based surveillance in applications including mobile health apps
(Lupton, 2012), environment monitoring and pollution control apps (Castell et al., 2015), self-
tracking apps (Barassi, 2017), and parental surveillance (Ghosh, Badillo-Urquiola, Guha,
LaViola, & Wisniewski, 2018). Covid-19 has introduced a new application of surveillance for
tracking citizens with the symptoms of the virus. This includes the Covid-19 tracker in China
(Davidson, 2020), the Aarogya Setu app for tracking infectious citizens in India (Shahane, 2020),
and contact tracking apps in the United States (Guynn, 2020). While these technologies are
innovations for fighting the global pandemic today, the issue of government surveillance on
citizens has evolved repeatedly. Research can focus on the multiple benefits of these apps, but
also should not ignore the potential social complications that are possible to arise, including the
historic problem of bureaucratic control by the government, using IT (Gandy, 1989).
Closely related to surveillance is the issue of privacy that mobile apps, including Covid-19
trackers, often tend to threaten users’ personal information (Gu, (Calvin) Xu, Xu, Zhang, & Ling,
2017; Joy, 2020). For example, online classes during the pandemic lockdowns have suffered
issues of ‘intrusion of privacy’ as students and teachers are on camera in the private spaces of
their homes (Garcia, 2020). Privacy in the digital age has remained a research topic of high
priority for IS researchers (Belanger et al., 2001; Smith, Dinev, & Xu, 2011). Privacy has also
been considered by IS adoption and usage researchers, with privacy risk as a dominant and
recurring factor in studies on mobile payments (e.g., Johnson, Kiser, Washington, & Torres,
2018; Luo, Li, Zhang, & Shim, 2010), location-based mobile services (Zhou, 2012), and social
networking sites (Aghasian, Garg, Gao, Yu, & Montgomery, 2017; Youn & Hall, 2008). It
would be interesting to examine the different privacy concerns of users while adapting both
Covid-19 tracking apps, and online classroom applications. The risks involved in the breach of
privacy by these two technologies are unalike and must be investigated with adequate contextual
references.
3. Implications for research and practice
In this section, we revisit some of the key issues that are important for research and practice. Our
discussion is based on the assumptions about the post-pandemic situation and the aspects of IS
research presented above.
3.1. Implications for research
i. While deploying security technologies like the blockchain, it will be important to
understand the implications of smart contracts, their integration in workflows, and their
effectiveness in complex resource-constrained settings, as in developing countries.
Further, understanding the implications of secure and non-erasable technologies like
blockchains will become relevant for regulation.

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 ii. Many research issues arise with regard to work-from-home and gig work, which include
aspects of trust, measurement of performance, communication effectiveness, and
collaboration.
iii. It can be expected that the dark side of virtual work and gig work, will raise questions of
stress, presenteeism, work overload, surveillance, and monitoring. New and severe forms
of digital surveillance will have to be understood and their implications gauged.
iv. Though much work has been done in understanding the parameters and impact of the
digital divide, it will be important to understand how those without access suffer more
from the consequences of the pandemic when the world survives on digital
communications and operations.
v. Management of the internet within countries is important, and aspects of enhancing
networks include regulating zero-rating plans cautiously, seeing their implications for
welfare, and how they can enhance access.
vi. Internet shutdowns during and after a pandemic lead to severe difficulties for citizens,
who have come to depend on these services. Research has to examine the direct, second-
order, and third-order impacts of these shutdown measures.
vii. Research on digital payments and their impact in crisis situations, for providing aid and
subsidies to affected populations, and for disaster management.
viii. Surveillance issues about the extent of data collection by contact tracing apps are
important areas of research. Issues of persistence and elimination of data, the expanse of
data collection, sharing of data between apps, and the multiple trade-offs involved.
3.2. Implications for practice
i. Design of secure technologies, like blockchain-based applications, for the surge in online
education and healthcare activities.
ii. Policy for regulating digital infrastructure needed for increased digital transformation.
iii. Design of technologies for managing secure online interactions – for education,
healthcare, payments.
iv. Design of apps for contract tracing and disease surveillance that balance privacy versus
public health.
v. Managers will have to understand resistance to technology and ways to manage change,
both among employees as well as customers.
vi. Given the significant role which the internet is about to play in times to come, Internet
intermediaries will work with government and civil society to address privacy and
surveillance issues for better adoption of technology.
4. Conclusion
We understand that a pandemic can have severe consequences (Keys, 2000), including changing
the political contour of the world, destroying empires, and creating nations. For the Covid-19
pandemic, we envisage a dramatic shift in digital usage with impacts on all aspects of work and
life. How this change plays out remains largely dependent on our responses to and shaping of the
emerging trends.

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In this paper, we have outlined what we see as some key trends and research issues that need to
be examined urgently. They will have substantial consequences in the future.

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