COVID-19 and the New Normal in Developing Societies: An Appraisal of Nigerians’ Adaptation to Digital Life in Public and Private Spheres

Abstract

COVID-19 significantly altered individual patterns of interaction across the globe. The impediment on physical contact and emphasis on social distancing as measures of curbing its spread gave rise to new forms of interactions among individuals. In the ensuing new normal, digital life took the center stage, anchoring engaging and meaningful interactions of individuals in both public and private spheres. This study appraises the adoption of digital life in Nigeria during this period. Hinged on the technological determinism theory, the study examines the sudden digital migration in Nigeria and identifies the factors that facilitated the process, on the one hand, and the obstacles that inhibited it, on the other. Using secondary data derived from books, official websites, and media reports, the study has established that although the Nigerian society adopted digital life as alternative to face-to-face interactions out of expedience, a combination of systemic, structural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors constrained the process with grave implications on the overall (expected) impact to both individual and national developments. The study concludes that effective digitization in Nigeria requires a holistic approach toward addressing germane issues that retard socioeconomic development in the country—such as endemic poverty, structural inequality and class differences, uneven development between urban and rural communities, low computer literacy and information and communications technology (ICTs) access, poor electricity supply, poor global system for mobile communication (GSM) and Internet access, gender factor and vulnerable groups, and digital frauds—in order to create the enabling environment for productive digitization to thrive.