How much impact did the pandemic have on our internet usage?

Internet in all its forms has for several years played a significant role in our lives. The digitalization has changed the society we live in, but perhaps even more in 2020. The use of the Internet and its social media has increased significantly during this past year. Much because we have had to adapt to restrictions the pandemic has left us with, and thus have had to socialize in new ways – digitally. In the final stages of last year, the Swedish Internet Foundation released an updated version of “Swedes and the Internet”, in which they summarize how Sweden used the Internet and social media during 2020.

Nearly nine out of ten of the people who use the Internet also use social media while on the Internet. Also, a third of the Internet users has started using the Internet considerably more in 2020. Many of us have had to work from home, regardless of how we approach the issue. Some have thrived while others longed to return to their colleagues. In any case, it turns out that almost half of the users prefer working from home – or at least like to have the opportunity to do so, even after the pandemic.

 

What has happened to social media?

The giants Facebook and Instagram have increased by huge percentages in 2020. This is especially noticeable for the slightly older, but also positive, generation. Which time of the day that shows more activity is almost no difference – as the survey indicates that more and more people have shown increased activity during night time. 46% answered that they wake up at night and look at their mobile phones. To ensure numbers, Instagram, with its more than one billion active users in the world, has had an increase of 12% in terms of its users. Facebook has added 5% to its nearly three billion users, and there the report shows that the most popular activity on Facebook has been the chat forum Messenger.

Nearly the haft of the working internet users in Sweden uses LinkedIn – which means that LinkedIn has increased by six percentage points and has today at total four million users in Sweden (altogether over 645 million users in the world).

 

What is going to happen after the pandemic?

Nobody knows when the pandemic is going to write its last chapter, and because of that it is of course difficult to forecast the future for both internet and its social media. But what we do know, is that a large societal change, always have an impact. Possibly more employees will start working from home, upcoming events can have the opportunity to be shown digitally, or just as simple as routines of hygiene clearly will improve every home.

What do you think? Have you noticed any differences on how much you use social media during the pandemic, and if so – have you gotten a better or worse attitude to it? One thing we know for sure after this challenging time is the ability the digitalization and the internet has created for us. Thanks to this, we have been able to keep in contact with our loved ones. We have been capable to both work and study from home. Despite that the situation looked different for everyone, and someone only will see the pandemic throughout curtains down and with a stack full of rolling series, the digitalization has been crucial. It has contributed to make us keep on living out lives as good as possible. Whether it concerns updating your applications for news reporting or search for a new job through LinkedIn, the chance has been there – and that would not be successful without the digitalization.