This is how a pandemic year has changed us

Do not forget the mask when leaving home.

Hydroalcoholic gel in each corner.

Video calls with the grandmother who barely knew how to use her mobile before.

The pandemic has disrupted the everyday.

Some are very visible changes - masks, video calls - but a statistical analysis of different sectors in 2020 shows other habits in which we do not usually repair so much: we have abandoned physical money or bought 40% less clothes - why launch a new dress at home?

Those who have jobs save more and buy fewer flats for fear of the future.

We study and work remotely;

we go to the gym less and do more sports in the street, we smoke and drink less in general, but something more at home.

Restaurants have been replaced by food delivery.

We travel much less, of course.

And it is likely that when the restrictions are lifted, many daily habits will not return to the way they were before.

Few books for so much Netflix

Cinema and theater have experienced a catastrophe.

Movie theaters have lost 72% of viewers in 2020, and theaters 62%, according to both employers.

So how do we have fun?

Glued to the screen, but at home: if in 2019 we watched TV for an average of 3 hours and 41 minutes, last January it was already 4 hours and 19 minutes.

In addition, we have launched into consuming movies and series on digital platforms such as Netflix, HBO, Filmin, Amazon Prime or Disney which, according to the EGM, already reach more than half of Spaniards (the previous year it was 33.7% , 20 points less).

Meanwhile, iVoox, one of the main audio applications on the internet, increased its users by 30% in Spain.

As Joaquim Rius, professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Valencia, explains, “confinement has digitized social, labor and consumer relations.

Digital has made it easier to continue, but it also establishes new rules with winners and losers ”.

According to this expert, "the cultural sector is one of the great victims in Spain, because now there are large corporations that keep most of the film, book and music pie."

And he concludes: “the 2020 data announce the disappearance of entire sectors of the cultural industry.

Either there is a decided support from the public sector, or when cinemas and theaters reopen normally, people will not return ”.

Despite spending more time at home, we haven't read much more.

The Reading Barometer shows that during confinement, frequent readers (at least once a week) went from 50% to 57% of the previous year, but when we went out again it dropped to 53%, that is, slight growth.

On the other hand, we have played more as a family: board games have grown by 8%, puzzles by 30% and construction toys by 50%, according to Spanish manufacturers.

85,000 fewer bars and restaurants

Of the 316,000 hotel establishments that existed in 2019, 85,000 have already closed.

The annual turnover of the sector between January and November was 50% lower than the previous year during those same months (70,000 million euros in losses), according to the Confederación Empresarial de Hostelería de España.

Instead, we order more food at home: JustEat, UberEats and Glovo, three of the main delivery platforms, have doubled the restaurants that work with them (16,000 the first, 13,000 the second and 18,000 the third).

But swapping one thing for the other is not that simple.

Carlos María Alcover, professor of Social Psychology at the Rey Juan Carlos University, explains it like this: “The satisfaction obtained from that food brought home is much lower than the satisfaction in the real place.

Even if people eat the same, not doing it in the usual environment becomes an anti-climax experience.

In a restaurant it is not only what you eat, but the ceremony around it ”.

In addition, we have cooked more: the AECOC employer explains that the turnover of the food sector has grown by 6.4% in 2020, both in fresh (6.5%) and packaged (6.4%).

Our map

Without bars, we drink and smoke less.

The wine, beer and spirits employers' associations confirm sales drops of 40% and 50% in hospitality, although there is a slight increase in sales to individuals.

For example, in 2019 11.07 million hectoliters of wine were sold, 3.55 of them to drink at home, while in 2020 it was 9.06 (a large decrease), but more were taken at home (4.57 ).

The Tobacco Board confirms that the sale of packs has fallen by 8% this year.

Alcover considers that “both the consumption of alcohol and tobacco are very social, there are people who do not drink at home, but do drink outside with friends.

You don't normally buy a good bottle of wine to drink at home on your own.

Because it is not the wine or the whiskey, but the context ”.

Aversion to touching money

For José Luis Nueno, holder of the Intent HQ chair of Changes in Consumer Behavior at IESE, “there has been a transfer from paper money to card.

A recent study by Minsait explains that 70% of Spaniards have reduced or abandoned payment with money and that 60% have felt an aversion to touching money or an ATM ”.

According to the Bank of Spain, in the second quarter of 2020 we took almost 52% less money from the ATM, and in the third, 26% less;

on the other hand, card operations only decreased in the second quarter, while in the third they increased by 16% (at the rate of the previous year).

The uncertainty has also led us to ask for fewer consumer loans (around 30%) and to buy fewer houses (17%).

As Nueno argues, “household savings in the euro zone have reached unprecedented levels, first because the confinement prevented consumption and then because of the uncertainty: people are afraid of losing their job and getting a worse one, that's why they are cured in health and delay purchasing decisions ”.

Between January and September 2020, the Spanish saved almost 40,000 million euros, according to the Bank of Spain.

Buy tracksuits from the couch

We go to the stores less and less: The Spanish Confederation of Commerce estimates a drop in sales of 20% to 25%, while around 15% of the stores have closed.

The IESE expert explains it like this: “There is fear of going to the establishments, and the exhaustion of arriving, waiting and queuing.

People go less to the physical point of sale and that can continue ”.

Instead, we buy more online, according to the Spanish Association for Digital Economy: "In 2020 tourism and

entertainment

ticketing

, two of the most relevant sectors, collapsed for obvious reasons, while others such as food, fashion or consumer electronics they grew remarkably, possibly over 30% ”.

New third: “Consumers started shopping

online

and four sectors have benefited a lot, food, which has doubled its

online

share

from 2% to 4% with 14% growth;

fashion, which has increased its share with

luxury

marketplaces

[

online

stores

];

electronics, benefited from teleworking, and home, decoration and DIY products.

Food delivery has also grown a lot ”.

The IESE professor points out that "electronic commerce has gone from 9% to 14%, that is, it has grown in one year the same as in the previous five."

More fashion has been sold online but, in general, we have bought much less clothes: the Textile Trade Business Association estimates a 41% drop in the year.

A spokesperson for El Corte Inglés explains that "habits have turned towards more comfortable clothes, to be or work at home, away from seasonal clothes."

Both this chain and Decathlon confirm - without giving specific data - that much more clothing and articles for sports at home have been sold.

After confinement, we bet on individual sports abroad, such as running and cycling.

Bicycle sales grew by 30% in May and, although the sector still does not have figures for the year, large growth is expected.

On the other hand, we have stopped going to the gym: FNEID, the employers' association of sports centers, estimates a drop of 53% in billing and 50% in registrations.

More Zoom and less AVE

Given that mobility restrictions continue, it is not surprising that we now travel much less: 66% less by AVE and 60% less in Renfe half distance, 72% less by plane.

Weekend getaways are in the doldrums.

In cities, public transport has dropped between 40% and 50%, while car use has only fallen between 15% and 20% (data as of November compiled by EL PAÍS).

Added to the restrictions is the fear of contagion in media where there are usually crowds, although public transport is, in general, safe.

Every time we work and study more at home.

In 2019, 4.8% of employees did regular telework (more than half of the days) —and another 3.5% occasionally—, according to the INE;

the following year, the figures have tripled: in the first quarter, regular teleworkers reached 16.2%;

in the second and third, around 10%.

Something similar happens in the university: enrollment in the large face-to-face universities has fallen slightly this year, while it rises a lot in two of the main distance universities, such as the UNED (13%) and the Open University of Catalonia (14%), where in addition, the registration is still open.

In secondary school, only four communities have full attendance, while another 13 apply alternate days of face-to-face and virtual classes.

In parallel,

video calling

apps

have grown exponentially around the world: Zoom went from 10 million users to 300, while Teams rose from 20 million to 115.

The desire for a pet or a partner

The burden of confinement has led to more people looking for a companion animal in 2020: the Valencian Computer Registry of Animal Identification has accounted for 37.6% more dog adoptions and 17.2% more purchases.

National data is not in yet, but a similar trend is expected.

As José Vicente Pestana, professor of Social Psychology at the University of Barcelona points out, “having a pet has a very positive psychological effect, because it conveys things that families are not capable of saying to their faces.

But we must be vigilant to see if this does not lead to an explosion of abandonment of animals later on ”.

The search for a partner has also increased, perhaps due to the memory of a solitary confinement: the dating app Adoptauntio says that connections increased 20% compared to the previous year;

Tinder, another social network of this type, does not offer data but confirms that "the platform was a meeting place for many users";

while the marriage agency Lazos has also noticed a 20% increase in users.

The fear of dying grows

So many new developments in such a short time, Alcover explains, have psychological effects: “The changes during confinement were accepted because it was an exceptional situation.

Subsequent change in habits has been less tolerated because when you go back to the previous situation but you can't do what you used to, people have a harder time adapting ”.

This expert considers that “sometimes, a forced experimentation like the current one can make people change their habits and not go back to the previous thing.

In the Spanish flu of 1918, which lasted a long time, contacts changed and crowds decreased, and after the Great Depression consumption habits changed ”.

A recent CIS survey shows that almost one in four Spaniards (23.4%) has felt a lot or a lot of “fear of dying due to the coronavirus”, and seven out of 10 (68.6%) have felt a lot or a lot fear of losing a family member or loved one.

Tranquilizers and antidepressants grew 4%, according to the Pharmaceutical Business Federation.

The General Council of Psychology does not yet have figures to know if visits to these professionals have increased, but everything indicates that the impact of these concerns on mental health is going to be significant.

Although we have requested more or less the same doctor appointments as before the pandemic, many times they have been by telephone, which is already 38% of the total in Andalusia and 60% in Galicia (among the few that offer data).

UGT estimates that 75% of the first primary care consultations in Madrid are already by telephone.

In addition, our vision has worsened by 57% due to the use of so many screens, according to a study by Vision and Life.

Finally, there are several social changes that are already beginning to be sensed.

For example, in the first half of 2020, 60.83% fewer weddings were held, according to the INE, but we do not know if the trend has continued.

Divorces grew 16% in the third quarter, according to the CGPJ, but at the end of the year they fell 13.3%.

For Alcover, “that there are fewer weddings may be due to the fact that expectations for the future are uncertain and people cancel their plans.

And a forced coexistence increases divorces;

in fact, the greatest number of separations takes place after the holidays ”.

In terms of births, in the first semester they fell by 4% (according to the INE), but the pandemic has accelerated this trend: partial data from civil registries show a drop of more than 22% in December and January.

This is also the case in neighboring countries: according to a compilation by

The Wall Street Journal

, births in January fell by 21% in Italy and 13.5% in France.

The pandemic is likely to have alarming effects on Spain's already low birth rates.