When we were confined in our homes five years ago, due to the first great pandemic of the 21st century, we knew how we entered, but not how we went out. That was popular “We will leave stronger” But the truth is that what we left was somewhat changed. To the … Less in certain habits or customs that we acquire then, due to the unusual circumstances, and that, after all this time, seem to have arrived to remain.
One of these changes was the abandonment of cash transactions and a significant increase in the percentage of payments made by card. And this phenomenon has been exacerbated and settled now, so that the number of ATMs has also been reduced by the decrease in cash withdrawals: if in 2023 there were in Spain near 45,000 terminals, which meant 4% less than in 2022, In 2024 the number was just over 38,000. In 2019, just before pandemic, the number was just over 50,000.
To this increase in the use of the card has also contributed another of the habits we acquired during the pandemic and that, far from abandoning, we have incorporated To our daily life post -confinement: Online purchases. In 2020 and due to, among other reasons, fear of infection, the online sale sector experienced a significant boom. Spain, according to data from Euromonitor International, was the European country where the evolution of electronic commerce was most accelerated (according to the trend of the 2015-2019 period, in our country it would have reached 9% at the end of 2022 and reached a quota of 12%).
The price of flights increased by 30% from 2023 to 2019. prices are not expected to stabilize
A study conducted at the end of 2024 by the National Observatory of Technology and Society (ONTSI) revealed that in 2023 a business figure had been reached about 100 million euros, which meant 16% more than in 2022 and placing the average spending of the buyer at just over 3,000 euros per year. The main expense is destined to the acquisition of clothing and footwear, and it is estimated that more than 80% of Internet users are also consumers online.
Forced isolation popularized the use of video calls and, seen what has been seen, is far from being a fashion that we acquire then to discard later. It is estimated that more than 90% of the population made at some point in confinement At least one video call. It facilitated the communication between loved ones that were far away, but also teleworking and online classes. Precisely teleworking is another of the changes that were then imposed by necessity and that, in some cases, remain today.
New working life
According to an investigation of the Social Observatory of La Caixa in this regard, three years after the confinement of 2020 36% of the workers consulted continued Teleworking at least one day a week And all of them agreed that what they valued most was the improvement in family life and then avoid displacements, the feeling of taking more time and the possibility of getting up early. What least, the absence of socialization and disconnection. In most cases, productivity is not resentful. According to INE statistics, in 2024 almost 40% of companies of ten or more employees allowed teleworking and that percentage rose to 80% in companies of more than 250 employees. Before the pandemic, the workers who enjoyed teleworking did not reach 5% of the total.
The confinement involved, obviously, an impossibility to travel. So it was expected that this circumstance would cause an increase in the price of flights, which was confirmed and that it is today one of the dynamics that remains: in 2023 they were 30% more expensive than they were in 2019 and even the low -cost airlines saw their prices increased. In 2025, experts do not foresee a decrease in the final prices of 2024 IATA (the International Air Transport Association that represents about 300 airlines) also warned of the insufficiency in the manufacture of airplanes and the lack of capacity of airports, which contributes to the increase in costs for airlines and, consequently, in the final price for passengers. In addition, according to the OMT barometer of world tourism it has not been until 2025 when something similar to normality prior to pandemic in terms of travel habits has been achieved. But flying is more expensive.
Gels and new schedules
The normalization of masks and the use of hydroalcoholic gels is another habits that we have not left behind. If before the Covid we were surprised to see someone with a mask down the street, now it is not something unusual and, who more and who less, continues to carry hydroalcoholic gel because its use is incorporated into their hygienic habits. In many shops and restaurants, as well as in airports and stations, it continues to be present. Similarly, the schedules of the hospitality establishments have not yet returned to the previous popularizing the afternoon. The bars have not recovered the habit of having the press on paper For your customers. Paper newspapers, remember, were withdrawn from public establishments for contagious prevention reasons. And this would be the lesser evil: some restaurants and bars did not have paper newspapers again at their tables because they were not able to reopen (only in 2021 closed more than 7,000 bars). In addition, we get used to buying food at home and we have not completely abandoned the new custom. This service increased by almost 60% and about a thousand who did not have that service then incorporated it and kept it today.
In short, pandemic and confinement caused drastic changes in our life habits and in our daily lives, in our way of behaving and interacting. And some of these customs, acquired at the time by imperative necessity, have remained. Five years later, when we would be in what some sociologists agree to call a post-Pandandemics stage, in which, in certain aspects, we are reaching the long-awaited normality to COVID-19, some of those habits They have been established in our day to day. And it does not seem that, for now, they will leave us.
#society #abandoned #physical #world #Covid
