Technology is not bad, it’s our inability to use technology well that is detrimental to our well-being. Recognizing this imminent problem upon us, mobile companies, including giants like Apple, Microsoft have come up with apps that will limit our phone usage. But one may wonder why would mobile companies who profit so much by keeping us hooked to our phones want to us use it less? Are they really good Samaritans or is there a hidden agenda?

The question we must ask ourselves is “have these companies ever been good Samaritans?” The short answer is “no”. In this cut throat competitive world, businesses, especially large businesses will never make a business decision that isn’t profitable.

If customers are accused or have been slowly nurtured to become a culture of “FOMO”, tech companies are also suffering from the same. With digital well-being taking the centre stage for a few years now and so many apps propping up to reduce or regulate our screen time, the big players don’t really have an option.

A closer scrutiny at some of the addictive industries (legal or illegal) in the world will show you the amount of legal and political battles they must endure to keep their businesses floating. Be it alcohol, drugs or cigarettes; there are heavy taxes levied on them, there are political campaigns rallied against the usage, there are social taboos that they must look to circumvent but is there any strong narrative against the mobile industry?

“If customers are accused or have been slowly nurtured to become a culture of “FOMO”, tech companies are also suffering from the same”

So what’s unfolding in front us is a brilliant business move. Tech companies understand well the psychology of an addict. An addict begins small, then his/her consumption grows over time till it one day he/she is destroyed and if fortunate to be still alive checks himself/herself into a rehab. Once fully recovered either does away with the habit completely or moderates it and in worst cases returns to the addiction and goes through the whole cycle again. Humanity has reached a point where they need to get into the rehab when it comes to digital consumption. The screen time limiting apps are nothing but mini rehabs that we go through every day. By introducing these digital well being apps they’re just prolonging your continuity in your addiction and not eliminating it. Elimination of addiction requires them to change the way they function, the way they track our every click and notify us. The moment you open your phone again, you will be flooded with the same amount of information, the same blast of notifications and the same dopamine surges again.

Let’s suppose that tech companies were our well wishers, our friends. Would a friend ever watch you get addicted and not try stopping well before the addiction takes an extreme toll?

Since we are in this tough situation we must make use of the technology and apps available to us to balance our digital life but perhaps it’s a bit of stretch to call the creators of this well crafted addiction as our well-wishers. 

The Covid pandemic has turned the world of work upside down. While some companies are coming to grips with this new reality, some others are struggling to survive. The key to survive in these difficult times is adaptability and innovation. The most visible form of innovation is the large number of companies that adapting remote work or hybrid models. Companies like Atlassian and Dropbox have permitted employees to work remotely permanently, while Google is allowing only 20% of it’s employees to work from home. The bottom line is that every company, every employee is trying to fit in. But this is only one aspect of innovation. Let’s look at some examples of how companies are innovating tactically, technologically culturally in these uncertain times.

The travel industry took one of the biggest hits during this period, wherein commercial airlines were cut in some routes up to 90%. In order to stay competitive Virgin Atlantic and others converted their passenger flights into cargo-only flights. Having witnessed success in this method many airlines are now are restructuring their aircrafts to make space for more cargo. The industry is now witnessing a new source to generate revenue.

An electronic components distributor, Digi-Key, developed an ultraviolet sanitation tunnel that significantly reduces the chances of a virus outbreak to safeguard its employees. This tunnel can disinfect 8000 plus totes in their one million-square-foot distribution centre each day. The company took three days to design this technology from scratch and they’ve decided to share their best practises with other distributors on the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA).

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. provided their employees access to HeadSpace Inc., an app for meditation and mindfulness with the intention to alleviate their employees of stress. To noone’s surprise, in two months more than 9000 employees signed up for the app and consumed more than 500,000 minutes of listening to ideas and thoughts on mindfulness.

Perhaps one of the few industries that have grown during this period is the online grocery sales. They achieved a record target of $7.2 billion, according to a Brick Meets Click/Mercatus survey. But to keep the sales going, they had turn their focus on customer concerns. Whole Foods, turned some of their physical stores into “dark stores”, retail distribution centres that caters only to online shopping. They had to make rapid changes as to how they operate, make concessions keeping a “customer first” approach. Other retailers are now following suit.

&pizza, a Washington, D.C.-based pizza chain, living true to their founding philosophy “doing good while being good” took the initiative to serve free pies to health workers in the hospitals nursing Covid-19 patients. For their employees, they provided a host of benefits such as hike in hourly pay, free access to Netflix, free travel to work, paid time off for those who wanted to join the protests related to the killing of George Floyd. Consequently, the company has retained 90% of it’s employees.

For some turning difficulties into opportunity is only beautiful saying but for some others it’s a reality. The challenge of the pandemic is not meant to destroy us but to accelerate new ways to doing things and staying alive. This may be a small sample size for the amount of innovation and adaptation that have taken place in the world since last year but it gives a hint to those still struggling out there on how to survive and flourish in the new age of work.