Has the pandemic permanently altered our entertainment habits?
Although the peak of the latest wave of Covid 19 infections looks to have passed, it is evident that the nation is still a long way from being back to normal. There have been plans put in place to unlock the state of Karnataka in a staggered manner which means that it will be those essential services like grocery stores that will be first to reopen.
However, it looks like it may be some time before our entertainment hotspots return to anything like they were before the pandemic struck. As such, it’s going to be hard to see in what form everything from cinemas and casinos to nightclubs and sporting venues will return when they look to cope with the ‘new normal.
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A shift from local to global
As we turn to the digital domain for our entertainment, it is having the effect of turning us from local consumers into global citizens. No longer are people listening to the music of just their region or nation, as music streaming platforms from Gaana to Spotify have helped us enjoy music from a much greater variety of cultures and genres. Again, the effects of this have been amplified by the current pandemic which has effectively halted the careers of all touring musicians for well over a year.
Even the gaming world has been pushed further into the digital realm as a result of the tumultuous changes of the past few months. Rather than going to an expensive casino resort to play games like roulette and blackjack, people are finding that it’s far easier to click on https://www.playersbest.com to be able to compare casino bonuses and get trustworthy reviews of which online casino sites represent good value for money. Even regular video gaming has followed a similar route with the advent of cloud gaming dispensing with the need for any kind of gaming hardware.
Our moves into the digital world
For many people, the pandemic has merely pushed us further into our digital futures. Anybody in the retail sector has long been warning that the traditional shopping experience has been in danger as a result of the eCommerce revolution.
The Amazon India boss recently went on record as saying that the pandemic brought a massive number of people to the eCommerce platform. This is especially significant as Amazon has become one of the key players in the digital streaming revolution.
It is thought that Amazon Prime has already racked up over 200 million subscribers in India. Not only is this important in changing people’s entertainment habits by keeping them away from the cinema, but it also could have a big impact in how content is created. After all, streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix have shaken up Hollywood, and it’s easy to see how it could do the same for the Indian movie industry.
All of this suggests that even the way we consume media is starting to become more fractured and isolated as we stay away from communal spaces like theatres and cinemas.
The limits of the digital revolution
While the digital revolution is reaching into all areas of our lives, it seems that there are still a few things that remain relatively untouched. Above all, it’s the sporting world that still represents one of the purest forms of human entertainment. Although the pandemic put pay to the latest round of the Indian Premier League, many more sporting events around the world have been able to get back to some kind of normal with limited numbers of spectators. Plus there is no way a digital simulation is ever going to be able to recreate the feeling of watching a movie in the middle of a packed cinema.
For many people, the encroachment of the digital into our daily lives may appear to have many negative and dystopian connections. But ultimately, it has merely helped us to stay better connected and given us greater choice than ever before. While efforts must be made to maintain traditional forms of theatre, music and so on, such technologies can even be helpful in breathing new life into anything from casino gaming to television. All of this means that once this pandemic has finally passed, our newfound technological know-how should just be an added entertainment option, rather than a crutch.
