The Problem of the 'Quick' Solution

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, world governments have been initiating lockdown. To prevent the economy from coming to a grinding halt, several companies have continued their work online. Thereby, we have started to see most of the working class use different apps to communicate with each other while maintaining a social distance; in fact, the idea to continue work online came almost immediately after the news of the lockdown. However, such hastily created solutions may have adverse effects that we haven't yet thought of.

We fail to notice that the current number of people working online is lesser than the possible number that will emerge in time. The reason for this is that the pandemic started very close to the time of summer vacations. While companies in the IT sector don’t give their employees a summer break, several other institutions, especially schools, do so. So while we might think that the Internet, though under pressure, can handle the sudden increase in the traffic, the actual crackdown on the net will start when schools and colleges reopen after the break. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 20 million students alone will be attending universities and colleges in 2020. There will also be an additional 1.4 billion students attending schools (from kindergarten to high school), which is approximately 18% of the world population. Hence, the Internet crashing is a real problem that we need to deal with before it’s too late. If we don’t act in time, the world economy itself might fall apart following the crash of the Internet which may lead to several nightmarish realities including extreme recession or even hyperinflation. We must act while we still have the chance.

This isn’t the first time that such problems have been found though. So what makes this situation so special? There is the presence of relativity of problems in this case. There is the larger problem of the survival of the human race in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, and then there’s the smaller problem of the Internet crashing. We choose to tag these problems as ‘small’ or ‘large’ only through our perspective - to us, staying alive is more important than any other problem. Hence our ignorance towards a problem of the future.

It is this very effect that is making us forget another flaw in the solution devised in the wake of the disease. Over 48% of the world’s population is in the middle-class group, and 27% is in the lower class group. As schools, colleges, and other such institutions reopen, the number of people regularly using computers and other electronic devices will increase. A problem that arises from this is that few of the middle and lower class groups own more than two computers (many don’t own even a single electronic device) while many have more than two family members. This means that the questions of affordability as well as demand for electronics will arise.

In terms of affordability, quite a few of these of middle and lower class group would be reluctant to buy an additional device, especially knowing that the need for the said device will reduce drastically once the pandemic passes. Others probably won’t be able the afford an additional device and all its supporting applications such as Internet connection, maintenance, etc.

Looking at the problem of demand, we see that, as the number of users increases, the demand for such devices will automatically. We can expect top computer manufacturers like HP, Apple, and Dell to take advantage of the situation. However, the overall production and supply of the electronics industry have decreased due to supply disruptions and the shut down of several manufacturing plants, creating a potential crisis of demand-pull inflation with an excess demand for computers and such electronics, and a shortage of supply.

Thus, while the economy is running despite the outbreak of the virus, we need to understand that it is not stable on all fours, but rather unsteadily balancing on the tips of its toes. A simpler and more reliable solution has to be found, something that will support usage by all classes of the economy.