In the current moment, amid the COVID-19 crisis, isolation and heavy reliance on software for work, communication, entertainment, wellbeing, and information have made it increasingly difficult to comprehend the evolution of software perception over the last 10-15 years.

Only nine years before this essay, Marc Andreessen published his influential piece on why software was consuming the world. At that time, Netflix, Uber, and Airbnb were already transforming commerce, though the full scope of digital disruption was still unfolding. Software rapidly altered the commercial landscape, bringing businesses online and enabling new service-based models.

Nowhere to Run

Now facing global pandemic and physical isolation, society is confronting an unfamiliar need: to persist, sustain life in its best form, and prioritize wellness above all else. The author describes this moment as “the great pause”—a time when people cannot escape into constant activity.

The pause has shifted purchasing patterns away from experiences like concerts and rideshare services toward goods like furniture, flowers, food, and record players. More significantly, it has encouraged genuine human connection, both with ourselves and others.

New Digital Wave

A profound wave of digital transformation is occurring. Small businesses are rapidly establishing web shops. Museums and galleries are launching virtual tours. Painting lessons, film festivals, and theater productions are being streamed online. Musicians perform free shows to global audiences from their homes.

Education has transformed through cloud-based systems, videos, games, and video calls. Children adapted immediately to Zoom classrooms and Google Meet gatherings, maintaining social interaction despite physical distance.

A Proper Wellness

Remote yoga sessions, Instagram live streams of meaningful content, guided meditations, and online therapy services have proliferated. Cooking tutorials, fitness challenges, and wellness content that previously remained niche now serve genuine needs rather than marketing-driven desires.

The author observes that people are learning what they need to be well through digital means—ancient meditation practices alongside modern fitness programs, dancing therapies, and virtual fitness challenges.

After the Great Pause

This pandemic represents a learning experience about our greatest modern invention: software and digital transformation. Society is realizing that the same tools used to accelerate consumption and sensory overload can facilitate healing and connection.

The crucial insight: “Screens we are looking at are not the problem — we are the problem. Screens were not alienating us, it was us who were alienating us.” Now, stuck to screens more than ever, people use them for connection rather than isolation. Society has finally recognized that software serves human flourishing.