# The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perception of Globalization and Consumer Behavior
## 4 Research Findings and Discussion
According to _E-commerce in the Times of COVID-19_ 2020, by the OECD, \"e-commerce has further enabled continued access, either online or physical, to certain areas of public life, such as concerts, museums\" [28]. The same tendency may be observed with regard to entertainment, that is, listening to music, watching films and series, and playing online games. According to [PERSON] and [PERSON], \"smartphones, tablet computers, and e-readerstogether create a rich mobile entertainment environment\" [45], which also contributes to the increasing number of people who resort to using the Internet in search of relaxation, distraction, and entertainment. Bearing this in mind, the next question in the set concerned the use of social media among university students before the COVID-19 pandemic and during its course. Answering the question: \"How often did you use social media before the COVID-19 pandemic (before March 2020) and during the pandemic?\", 89.6% indicated that they did so on a daily basis, and that tendency increased during the pandemic to 92.7%. Every few days was the response selected by 9.4% of survey participants to describe their activity before the pandemic, and during the pandemic, the trend to use social media every few days decreased. Once a week was the option chosen by respondents to refer to the period before the pandemic, and during the pandemic, as stated by the survey participants, no one used social media with such frequency. In the next stage of the study, the survey participants were asked about their preferences concerning watching films and series online. The largest group of respondents indicated that they watch films and series online every few days before the pandemic, and they engaged in this activity with the same frequency during the pandemic. However, other indications changed markedly. The group of respondents who watched online films and series every day amounted to 18.8% before the pandemic outbreak, and 37.5% indicated that they watched them every day during the pandemic. Furthermore, 21.9% of respondents watched films and series on the Internet once a week, and during the pandemic, the number decreased to 7.3%. Those who watched them once a month constituted 7.3% of the sample, and more recently, i.e., during the pandemic, 2.1% of individuals watched films and series online once a month. The indications related to watching digital content in the form of films and series have shown an opposite tendency. Those who watched them less frequently than once a month accounted for 1% of the sample. During the pandemic, the number increased to 2%. The Deloitte report entitled _Digital Consumer Trends Report 2021_ indicated that among all activities respondents had engaged in more intensively during the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., in 2020, than they had in 2019, none reported engaging in the same activities as intensively in 2021. Interestingly, more than half of the respondents (51%) in 2020 admitted that they read more news online than before COVID-19. However, in 2021, just 25% of individuals declared that they spend more time searching for and reading information than before COVID-19. This change affects young people (18-24) to the greatest extent. Only 15% declared more frequent searches for information this year than they did before COVID-19. Similarly, the use of social media platforms (a decline from 41% to 24%) was indicated as an activity that they undertake less often than a year ago. No declared changes in frequency were observed in the case of watching movies and series over the Internet (a small decrease from 25% to 23% year-on-year). However, it is worth noting that a significant decrease in this category (from 51% to 32%) was recorded in the case of the youngest study group (18-24). If we compare activities such as using the Internet to look for information, using social media platforms or home-based entertainment in the form of watching films and series online or playing games, one may observe an interesting tendency.