REFLECTIONS OF 2020 AND THE PANDEMIC
As we approach what appears to be the final stages of the pandemic, it’s worth reflecting on the positives and negatives that have happened, these are my personal reflections.
UNITY
There was a period in March and April 2020, where the United Kingdom was United in a common goal, I suspect not seen since the end of World War Two, the clapping for the NHS, people checking in neighbours, maybe doing some shopping for them, there was a feeling of unity and a common goal.
FURLOUGH
For me the time I spent on furlough, a word which I had never heard until 2020, was both stressful and deceptively alluring, almost a foretaste of retirement. Early on there was the stress of not knowing if you would have a job post-Covid, or what would happen financially, the reduction in income was hard, my bills didn’t reduce and nor did my inquisitive mind, I needed to be doing something productive. I, therefore, enrolled in several self-development courses. As the days turned into weeks, it became the new normal, we morphed into a life of late nights and lay-ins, Tracy started her candle making business, innereco.co.uk, and we settled in to this new normal.
As an avid reader, I started to consume books, particularly about cosmology, and fundamental physics. Brian Cox’s book on what is E=MC2 and why we should care, a particular favourite, but I also read books I would not normally be inclined to read, Lilly Alan’s book, my thoughts exactly is a good read, on a difficult subject, as is Barca Obama’s promised land, a truly fascinating insight into American politics.
THE RABBIT HOLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
During this period of enforced captivity, I like many found myself becoming increasingly reliant on social media, particularly Facebook, (I’m too old for Instagram, just don’t understand it).
the algorithms that feed content to my timeline became increasingly interesting (not the timeline that was becoming filled with consistent nonsense and political bile). The American presidential election, and how the media there were twisting the narrative the drive advertising revenue for their corporations and how Facebook was creating an echo chamber on my timeline, to ensure I stayed engaged and feeding their revenue stream. We are after all their product. I started to experiment by editing my advertising preferences and by deliberately clicking on content that was opposed to my views. It was an attempt to try to get Facebook to offer some balance, but increasingly I was being fed garbage, with basis. I will point out at this point that I have a research degree, and therefore do think that I know how to evaluate a technical paper or article, 99% of what was being offered as fact did not stand up to any form of scrutiny and worst most was desperately written to be misleading.
CONSPIRACY AND BULLSHIT
One sad point about 2020 has been the increase in the polarisation of political and scientific beliefs. The hyperbola around the US election and the cult of Trump and bullshit touted as fact around the Covid, the vaccine and the political reactions by the different governments. This year I have had friends block me because I didn’t believe their truth, maybe I handled things badly but with hindsight, I suspect the fault was not all mine. What is shocking is how people are being manipulated, we appear to have lost the ability to think critically but also to trust, the conspiracy influencers have made making people doubt their convictions a science with comparisons to 1930’s Germany not out of place. I think that for a society to operate equitably and sensibly, we need two things, firstly reliable and trusted information coming from those in power, but more importantly a population that has the educational tools to be able to critically appraise the information being provided by those in power.
What the mainstream media and the social media platforms are doing is presenting themselves as bastions of truth, while manipulating the narrative to suit the financial and political requirements. How society fixes this is open to debate, but I suspect the quantity of news needs to reduce, but the quality needs to increase.
CHANGING WORK PATTERNS
Once I had returned to work, post furlough, the UK government had advised that, if possible, people should work from home, this for me has been a revelation. I had spent the end of 2019, helping my company roll out Office 365, and impermeant tools such as MS teams. This it turned out was a stroke of genius, and with the enlightened support from the business leaders and IT, we were ahead of the curve. With everyone working from home, meetings changed, work practices changed, but for me, my efficiency increased and now looking forward to the next few years, I can’t see myself ever fully returning to the office. Personally, a more flexible approach is appropriate there are times when I will attend the office, but I suspect as the exception rather than the rule. The buzz word being flexibility.
A bigger effect on society will be the results of the changes in working patterns highlighted above. There will I feel be two types of response, those enlightened businesses who see this paradigm shift and an opportunity and those that see it as a threat. This will have much wider effects, with businesses downsizing their office space. This will result in reduced travel and reduced footfall in town centres. But increased efficiency will lead to increase income for some businesses, but those who rent office space, the transport industry and town centre support industries could suffer. Time will tell how this we settle out, but there is a massive environmental opportunity to shift the counties to a more sustainable model, those who see this will make a killing over the next few years.
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