The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cybernetization of socio-economic activity

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate if the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial and lasting effect on the cybernetization of such areas of socio-economic activity as employment, education, commerce and recreation, or whether those effects were only temporary and strictly related to the prevention of the epidemic. The change in attitudes towards remote work and e-learning are evident as an analysis of search queries in Google Search shows that general levels of interest in remote work and e-learning are substantially higher than before the onset of the pandemic, despite lifting the previously imposed disease control measures. Simultaneously there was a noticeable increase of the average time spent on online recreation, as well as the accelerated expansion of the e-commerce sector during the pandemic.