Opinion: COVID-19 pandemic could jumpstart a technological revolution

COVID-19 has caused the stock market to reach its lowest since the Great Depression, primary elections have been postponed and unemployment has reached 6.6 million in the US alone, according to the L.A. Times and CNBC.

This disease has impacted the world on a political, economic, and social level. But if we think about this rationally, everything impacts those categories. Politics, economy, and society are broad enough to “feel” the stimulus for every single event in every corner of the world, but we as individuals don’t usually feel personally connected with those events.

There is a saying in Chinese that “a small shrimp in the sea cannot make big waves in the ocean.” I used to think this pandemic was the “shrimp” and the “ocean” was the world, that this small event wouldn’t cause panic around the globe. I was wrong.

Because of COVID-19, businesses are closed, schools are shut down and people are dying. Just in a blink of an eye, the disease has broken through the broader layers of society and begun invading our individual lives.

I think the definition of disaster can be broken up into three parts: when you see people around you dying but you can do nothing about it, when something is messing up your normalcy but you cannot fight it and when the only thing you can do is sitting at your house and wait.

This virus has weakened us, mentally and physically. People start to blame each other in this situation as if the disease itself is not bad enough so we have to add hatred into the mix. It’s discouraging, or even frustrating to see our intelligence is being challenged by the virus — something that’s not even being categorized as an organism.

But there is always light in the darkness. Despite the hopelessness and desperation, we humans surely know how to do one thing correctly: coping.

The virus is challenging humankind, but we are adapting to the situation: although we are not going to schools, students are attending online classes. Because of quarantine, the College Board is converting APs into online tests, according to the L.A. Times.

Due to the lack of activities to do outside, people are starting to write articles and publish them online to record this historical event. In order to adapt, we are trying things we have never experienced before. Small changes from individuals are impacting the society to make bigger changes in the overall system, this is my definition of revolution.

My generation has been called the generation that’s being “digitally integrated.” But who would have thought?

This virus might really push us towards online learning and digital integration. We might be the generation to break the traditional way of learning; we might be the generation to revolutionize the education system.

I have the deepest condolences for people and families that are suffering through coronavirus, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking this virus might be an opportunity to introduce us to a new age, a better one. Then, there will be other stronger challenges that are waiting for us.

Disasters are inevitable, they are things to force people to think and push people forward. Maybe in a parallel universe, people are not going through this pandemic, but they are facing other kinds of problems. This year was the start of a new decade, so maybe it’s time to reflect, to change, to revolutionize.