Pandemic trends: Remote jobs are in, online yoga is out

Pandemic trends: Remote jobs are in, online yoga is out

12/4/22 7:00PM

Here to stay

‍Last week we explored the topic of remote work. If you missed it, the short version of the story is that roughly half of all job applications on LinkedIn last month were for remote work positions, way more than the number of remote work positions actually available. That got us thinking about other pandemic trends, many of which haven’t stuck around in the same way.

‍A time in space

‍Data from Google reveals how online yoga, home workouts, the breadmaking boom and even searches for wine delivery, have all struggled to maintain their early 2020 momentum as life in America returned to something resembling "normal".

Much to the chagrin of Zoom executives, far fewer people are searching for the video chat tool, making the company's share price chart look oddly similar to the search trend presented above. Indeed, many of the lifestyle changes that could have lingered ended up being short-lived.

One hobby that has maintained some buzz is chess. Searches for “online chess” got a modest bump during the pandemic as competitive board game players turned to web versions of the ancient game to scratch their competitive itch. Then Netflix’s popular show The Queen’s Gambit came along and from there the game has made headline a number of times — thanks in part to a cheating scandal. All told, daily user figures have quintupled to 5 million at Chess.com since 2020, according to the platform.

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The most watched soccer match in US history got less than a third of the views the Super Bowl did

Between a top-spot finish in the group stage, a sweeping performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and the president’s controversial intervention, Monday evening’s USMNT game against Belgium had, to put it lightly, shaped up into a box-office clash.

And though the US players’ performance on the pitch might not have lived up to the high drama off it, American soccer fans certainly showed up. According to early estimates, the 4-1 defeat against Belgium was the most watched soccer telecast in US history, hauling some 40 million viewers on average across the coverage on Fox and Telemundo.

That may be a record tally in the US for the sport that much of the world calls some variant of “football” — besting the 36.2 million who tuned in to watch the team’s previous knock-out match — but it’s still peanuts in comparison to the sport that shares the same name in the States.

World cup viewers chart — Sherwood News

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45% of Americans say they’re not taking a summer vacation this year, mostly due to costs

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Despite slight declines, Japanese tourism figures are still hovering around record highs

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