The Effects of Using Technology in the Human-Nature Relationship, in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This article aims to answer the question "has technology canceled a possible return to nature?". Provided that this pandemic has given everyone a lot of time to reflect, due to restrictions, all this time has been filled, even more, by the use of technology. There has indeed been talk of the connection between disease and the way in which humanity treats nature, but these have been findings devoid of a call to action. Instead, the time spent in front of the devices increased, in the attempt of people to fill in some way the free time they had at their disposal after work or school that took place, also, in front of a screen. The human-nature relationship was restricted to walks to the store or work, walking in the park being restricted in some respects. My proposal is to highlight both the positive and negative aspects of the use of technology during the past pandemic year. The complete lockdown, an event that completely shocked the whole world in which we live, revealed some aspects that were harder to notice, such as that nature does not need us, but we need it. However, I want to show that, although technology was the only pillar that helped us to maintain a more or less functional society, it also limited our closer observation of nature, and an awareness of its role. Among the hundreds of news, the daily check of the ever-increasing number of cases, the search for entertainment that would divert our attention from the situation we are in, the distance from nature and the closure in a space more and more distant from the surrounding reality, increasingly fictional, it affects man's relationship with nature.