Zeitgeist 2022 — Part 1

The decade starting from 2020 was plagued with Covid pandemic and a lot of gloom was spread across over the past 30 months. 2022 came as a breath of fresh air with activities which did not focus on the pandemic but also multiple other world events. The upcoming series of 2 articles will capture my take on the world activities and its impact on humans in 2022. Just like Google Zeitgeist, we will capture the good, bad, and ugly of 2022 and reprise all the memories that have been created across the world.

The year started with the receding Omicron virus which had again put a standstill across the world in December. This could have been a sign of things to expect in 2022, but the world completely changed after January.

Political

Let the War Begin: The world had been deprived of large-scale warfare and 2022 saw an invasion after a long time as Russia invaded Ukraine and led to a war situation between Russia and the BRICS nations supporting Ukraine. The war continues with Russia turning its back on some areas, but the situation is still out of control and a differentiated world order is in action.

Impact: Highly negative impact in terms of business and livelihood. In addition, relations of a lot of countries with Russia had to be soured despite depending on them for oil.

Same Old/New Story in China: Xi Jinping was reelected as a Chinese Premier for the 3rd time (1st time in China’s history). This is an indication of Xi staying in power for life and could spell doom for other rival countries who were trying to establish some relations with China. The dragon is set to establish a new dominance with its allies in Russia and Pakistan to counter the domination of United States of America and capture maritime areas which are not even rightfully theirs like the South China dispute in Philippines

Impact: Positive impact on China, but negative impact on the world as everyone depends on China for manufacturing and assembly and alternate options may have to be sought with new tariffs being imposed by Xi Jinping.

Business

The Rise and Fall of Quick Commerce: Quick commerce seemed like a new business model which was expected to go a long way in challenging the mom-and-pop stores. However, 2022 had different plans. While quick commerce adoption grew, they did not end up eating into the market share of mom-and-pop stores. Instead, they started eating into each other’s market share with multiple companies venturing into quick commerce. 2022 has proven that online business is an added benefit, but offline is the king of retail and it is very difficult to displace offline business. The best way out is a hybrid model by arranging a marriage between offline and online business.

Impact: Neutral. No major impact on people as their services were not disrupted and they were able to get the best out of both the worlds.

Financial Crisis in the sky: The Russia Ukraine war coupled with macro-economic factors that have made public panic and go on a selling spree has resulted in a recession like situation across Europe and Northern America. While it is not as significant as 2008, the public mood is focused on saving money rather than going into big ticket purchases as the markets are on a treacherous downward slope from where it could slide drastically or pick itself up and establish new highs in 2023.

Impact: Partially negative as people are thinking twice before any purchase and this is also contributing to massive layoffs in big companies which is rendering people unemployed.

Sports

King Kohli may be back: After a drought of 3 years, Virat Kohli, one of the greatest cricketers on earth rolled back a few years by scoring his first century since 2019. Add his exemplary T20 world cup, there was some positivity in the world of cricket as the best batter of his generation was back to his best.

Impact: Very positive impact on people as it gave an indication that hope is the only thing that keeps you going with determination.

Messi is finally the GOAT: The never-ending debate for the GOAT was settled in December as Lionel Messi lifted the FIFA World Cup for Argentina in 2022 and completed his trophy cabinet. He not only won the world cup but carried his team throughout the world cup ending with the golden ball for his superlative effort.

Impact: Highly Positive as it indicated that despite all the struggles and adversities, nature has its own way of rewarding you. It gave hope to budding sportspersons to always strive for the best without aiming for the trophy and it will come your way.

Technology

The Twitter Saga: Elon Musk has ensured he remained in the news by acquiring Twitter and then bringing mind boggling changes in terms of reorganization. This was an indication of the power of wealth and how a visionary of our time has understood the need for social media to have competitors for Instagram and WhatsApp. Elon Musk looks to refurbish Twitter to reach the heights of Instagram, but the future looks gloomy with Twitter facing a lot of flak for handling its employees (majority of them were fired) and uncertainty from Elon Musk on whether he will stay the CEO of the blue bird.

Impact: Negative as a lot of companies have taken inspiration in laying off employees to focus on a lean team. Along with that, the credibility of twitter is taking a beating leading to more people dropping off from the social media platform.

ChatGPT vs Google: An AI enabled experiment which is looking to displace Google Search engine is now on the web. Though, it is in its initial stages and needs a lot of machine learning and product refinement, it may be time to see some upheaval in the world of technology of search and knowledge which is dominated by Google.

Impact: Positive impact as people are constantly looking for more specific answers to their questions (Google has highly descriptive and link driven answers) and ChatGPT could just be the hope they are looking for.