ABSTRACT
COVID-19 not only affected education, public health policy, and work-family relationships, but it also forced many people especially in wealthy countries into a two-dimensional orientation between online-offline and screen-light versus room-light. In the modern economy, technology helped overcome human isolation in the absence of face-to-face contact at public events in institutions of arts and sciences, and at cultural events that spur certainty. In developing nation, lockdowns also limited cultural events. This chapter looks at how the pandemic affected the cultural sector through digital technology and asks whether society expects too much from ICT. Do humans surrender privacy at the expense of machine learning? The discussion links technology to the exchange of East-West Living Education Theory; creativity among musicians during pandemic times; self-reliance on technology in rural Bhutan; and growth in human development through understanding the self and others during times of emotional stress.
