The slow slumber that hit the world in 2020 changed the way people lived in more ways than one. Face-to-face contact was limited, so we now choose to text instead of meeting in person. The traditional mode of workplace attendance became untenable, prompting more adoptions of hybrid schedules and aspirations for more remote jobs. The widespread scarcity of essential goods like toilet paper caused many to opt for the convenience and certainty of using home delivery for groceries and home goods. The world was eager to get back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic changed what we view as normal.
Major crises like the pandemic can be incredibly stressful and upend the daily routines of people all over the world. The unprecedented global crisis was one of the most profound of the 21st century and brought life-altering changes to individuals both personally and professionally. The major disruption has offered an opportunity for researchers to observe how such a major change alters human practices.
In “How changing needs change technological practices during a crisis: an explanation using practice theory,” Walton College of Business Professor Varun Grover along with Pamela G. Schlosser (William and Mary) and Tingting (Rachel) Chung (William and Mary) look at how mobile app usage and practices changed because of the pandemic.
Technological devices are fused with our daily routines. Apps support these routines and can assist with any task from any location. It has been customary for individuals to consult apps to help them complete day-to-day activities. For instance, we often wake up and check the weather app to inform our wardrobe choice, check the maps to see if we will encounter any traffic, check our banking transactions to ensure security, and the list goes on.
Through the lens of human needs, this study examines the shift in routines due to the pandemic crisis and the adoption of new technologies like mobile apps. These human needs could stem from the desire for efficiency, safety, connectivity, information, or convenience. People adapt their routines and capacities by incorporating new technologies into their regular practices to meet these needs.
The world of tech-savvy routines
The research is conducted through the lens of practice theory, which emphasizes how individuals engage with the world. The theory seeks to understand the notion of social practices and the social orders that shape, enable, or constrain them. These practices consist of a set of routines and are defined as “patterns of action” by people and machines. Technological devices and mobile apps are so deeply embedded in routines that they provide capabilities that allow routines to form through continued use and repeated patterns of action.
People engage in a variety of practices through their devices, especially now that the world is saturated with technology. The researchers analyze four common practices that individuals encounter on a day-to-day basis: communication, browsing, information sourcing, and material sourcing.
Communication is an essential part of our everyday lives, especially in our social world, where we connect and share information directly. Before the pandemic, social media and messaging apps were the most predominantly used apps for communication purposes. Since social distancing and isolation limited face-to-face contact, these types of communication practices should have increased after the pandemic. However, the opposite occurred. The use of widely used pre-pandemic communication apps like Instagram, iMessage, or text went down, while the use of video conferencing apps, such as Zoom, surged as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.
Browsing occurs when people are willing to try something new and search for change from their current reality. Users can explore, compare, and contrast alternate scenarios that may potentially improve their lives personally or professionally. For example, people browse for employment opportunities, housing options, or travel spots and browse a variety of choices. The research confirmed that people browsed more frequently after the pandemic.
The practice of sourcing in the digital context is divided into two: information sourcing and material sourcing. Information sourcing, which is usually made easier by technology and mobile applications, is the intentional process people go through to collect particular knowledge or data from multiple sources. Apps that utilize information sourcing can include mapping information from mapping apps, news information from apps like Apple news, weather information from apps like AccuWeather. The process involves utilizing available resources to get relevant information tailored to one’s needs or interests. The research confirmed that people sourced more information via apps after the pandemic.
Material sourcing, on the other hand, occurs when individuals seek to purchase a good or service. For example, apps like Doordash or InstaCart are used to order meals or deliver groceries. Individuals use apps like Zappos or Nordstrom to order clothes. The research confirmed that individuals sourced more materials via apps afterthe pandemic.
The pandemic’s rules on social isolation caused individuals to redirect their focus from their physical interactions with people and turn towards their technologies and alter their practices to adjust accordingly. While the researchers found post-pandemic shift where people browsed via a search, sourced information, and sourced material, a greater understanding was found by evaluating practices through the lens of human needs. Notably, the influence of human needs also played a role in shaping the way the pandemic changed technological practices with mobile apps.
Human needs as a mediator
While crises can disrupt and upend people’s lives in traumatic ways, growing evidence highlights the human capacity for resilience during those difficult times. Coping mechanisms are utilized to address changing needs during a crisis. The researchers argue that the use of diverse mobile apps, such as social media apps are driven by fundamental human needs: autonomy (self-focused) and relatedness (other-focused).
Relatedness is a psychological need that focuses on how one builds and maintains relationships with others in any context, including interacting, being connected to, and caring for others. Individuals who are seeking relatedness want to be loved and cared for. Quarantine measures have been associated with a number of negative psychological effects, making it difficult to satisfy relatedness.
Autonomy, on the other hand, is focused solely on the self. It refers to the psychological need to act true to oneself and engage in activities that are not necessarily attributed to social pressures, norms, or obligations. Because people were in isolation, they had more time to sit at home and maybe even pick up new skills to become more self-sufficient. In this sense, the pandemic gave people more time to focus on themselves instead of their relationships with others.
In order to cope with a lack of relatedness, people changed their practices and used mobile applications in a different manner, possibly because people were unable to get out and maintain and get support from relationships like they used to. The research found that after the pandemic, those who lacked relatedness browsed much more frequently and sourced both more information and materials. Many relationships are formed and maintained in our jobs. Without the ability to maintain these work relationships in a remote environment, the loss of relatedness led people to use the apps more often to help satisfy their need. For instance, the research found that there was an increase usage in job portal apps such as Indeed.com because people who lacked relatedness started to look more for other jobs. Relatedness did not help understand the use of communication apps during the pandemic shift, which was most likely a side effect of the changing technological apps used (from iMessage to Zoom).
On the other end of the scale, the crisis positively affected satisfaction of the human need for autonomy as individuals had more time to think about their life goals. Their normal tasks that filled their routines were depleted, so the time was filled with browsing and sourcing. The research found that people who had higher autonomy were more likely to have an increase in the use of traditional communication apps, browsed more frequently, and sourced both more information and materials.
How Apps Can Maintain Popularity
While social isolation and distancing rules during the pandemic caused people to turn away from human interaction and toward their phones and apps, the implications of these practices have carried on post-pandemic. The researchers found that pre-pandemic participants described their app usage as reading social media, playing games, or watching a streaming service. Many said they used their phones to pass time instead of focusing on their needs.
However, apps that surged in popularity during the pandemic and remained popular afterward did so because they met human needs, not just by fulfilling passive engagement. Zoom saw increased use during the pandemic and still maintains a large user base. Universities and businesses still use Zoom for virtual meetings, the same way people still order groceries off Instacart and engage on social media apps like TikTok. These apps were able to develop during a major crisis and cater to the needs of individuals whose routines were disrupted.
While mobile app usage has certainly changed from the days of PhoneSaber, developers and businesses benefit from meeting the moment and understanding how changing human needs influence consumer use.
