Zoom-fatigue. Remote workers never imagined an introduction to the concept.

Well, the fatigue is real. So is the need to vent off that fatigue with rewarding online activities.

Even though you couldn’t go out to your favourite pub or take a walk in the park, the virtual world has a host of possibilities for you during a lockdown.

Here’s a compilation of the most popular online activities during this year’s Covid-19 lockdown.

The Most Popular Online Activities

Confined to their rooms, people working from home have turned to the internet to socialise, educate and entertain themselves.

Streaming Movies and TV series

Movie theatres are closed. People are fed up with the depressing news on TV.

Hardly a wonder, then, that streaming services have seen a steady increase in traffic. Netflix saw a 27% rise in daily traffic. Amazon Prime and Disney+ showed a similar trend, and both reported an increased consumption. The streaming services grew by 5 million subscribers in the U.K. alone during the lockdown.

Online Education

Lockdown forced the schools to close. But that did not stop the children from receiving their education. 70% of the parents who took Hyperoptic’s survey, said that they turned to the internet to maintain their child's education.

Data collected from Google Trends showed that learning a new language via free online games was one of the most popular endeavours by the people in the U.K. during the lockdown.

Google Classroom shows a correspondent growth of 2.5 million daily users during the first months of the lockdown. Zoom also witnessed a meteoric rise of more than 4 million daily users for live online learning sessions or tutorials.

DIY and Tutorials

Studies showed that more and more people are using the internet to watch uplifting content. Be it a DIY tutorial or a cooking class or gardening tips, folks in lockdown are looking to expand their skills. Curiously enough, according to Google Trends, ‘how to bake banana bread’ is a very popular search in the U.K.

YouTube is the go-to solution for anyone looking for DIY tips and tutorials. And it has seen an increase in daily traffic by an average of 15.3%.

Digital Socialising

If you thought lockdown means social isolation, think again. Though you can't meet your friends in person, you can still connect with them through online video services and through the social networking apps. If you feel like unwinding after a long day’s work then just pop into a video chat room with your friends!

By keeping latest technical news in mind, you can simply fit two monitors on a desk in order to improve you productivity.

According to Hyperoptic’s survey more than 44% of the users had shared experiences via the internet. 59% of the users could not think of a lockdown without the internet. And a third of those who polled believed that they are now communicating more with others online than they did before the lockdown.

As more and more people are opting for group video chats online, sites like Nextdoor.com (+73.3% growth) and apps like Houseparty (+79.4% growth) are seeing a massive increase in daily traffic. Facebook also showed an average of 27% growth in daily usage.

Online Gaming

Unlike most industries that slumped during the lockdown, online gaming is experiencing a massive boom. Popular titles like PUBG, Fortnite and World of Warcraft are seeing a 20%- 30% growth in sales worldwide. If you are a competitive gamer, then this is the best time to team up with your friends and take on the world.

Gaming has some surprising benefits to it. Not only will it help you unwind after a stressful day, but it will also help build your memory and sharpen your concentration. Studies show that conflict oriented or problem solving online games like Minecraft will help build up multitasking skills of children. Multiplayer co-op gaming is also a great team building exercise. 

The popular gaming streaming website Twitch.tv has seen a whopping 50% increase in its hours watched during the first months of lockdown.

Remote Working And Freelancing

During Covid-19, lot of business have opted for remote working. Not only this, but many job hunters have started freelance working. They are utlizing this opportunity to showcase their skills. Digital marketers are utilizing multiple tools. Similarly web developers are using lots of online software to create photography website using Zenfolio.

Online Shopping

The lockdown has led to groceries and departmental stores to be closed or only offer reduced opening times around the world, taking precautionary measures for employees and consumers. Many products like antibacterial gels were high in demand because they are specifically related to the pandemic and were hard to get in supermarkets when the fear of the pandemic hit.
Google searches for a particular group of keywords, such as 'Coronavirus symptoms,' 'eatables having Vitamin C,' 'antiviral foods,' 'coronavirus test centers near me,'remedies for flu and cough’ have soared during the lockdown.
Therefore, many remote workers have enjoyed the benefits of ordering food or any other items they need online. Amazon, the biggest online retailer in the world, alone has seen a huge increase in sales during the peak of the pandemic. 

There has also been an overall surge in online searches for health and fitness apps as health and life become everybody's top priority during the pandemic.

People are looking for more online learning sources and remedies such as CBD oil to prevent the infection as well as possible mental health issues.

The Future of Online Activities Post Covid-19

The pandemic has forced the world to pause and many employees to work remotely from home.

This has clearly changed many aspects of life as we used to know it as shown in this article.

The human spirit endures and continues to thrive in the virtual world where increasingly more activities are taking place.

Many workers are getting used to working from home and are not missing the daily commute to the workplace. They have discovered that a lot of time and money can be saved that way and that doing more things online isn’t necessarily bad.

It also has a positive impact on the environment as O2 emissions are reduced as well as energy usage in huge office buildings. And remote workers can also go green in their home office to save the planet from an environmental catastrophe.

As this analysis demonstrates, we can expect a huge shift towards online learning and teaching, online banking and in general virtual living as more activities move online.