As businesses and consumers around the world adjust their routines amid the various COVID-19 restrictions, the Internet is being used at a scale that the world has never experienced. In addition to millions of people who are now working from home, students all over the world are going online to continue their studies, governments are increasingly leveraging the Internet to communicate with their citizens, vast amounts of commerce have moved online, houses of worship are streaming their services to keep their communities connected, and entertainers are engaging with their audiences online to provide an escape from the isolation many people and families are starting to feel.

It remains to be seen what will happen once we emerge from the pandemic, but it may be that our lifestyle is permanently changed to be much more online than ever before. The shift is already placing enormous traffic burdens on the Internet, and communication technologies will once again need to play a leading role in enabling our future.