The coronavirus and its associated complications have proven at least one thing: We are more dependent on Big Tech than we realized. 

• Don’t just look at the stocks: Like nearly every company, Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech services are down in value. 

• But they’re way up in customers and users: People are using Facebook’s video and calling services at double the normal rate. Amazon has hired 100,000 warehouse employees to deal with a surge in demand. Streaming is up on YouTube and Netflix. 

Remote work will be the biggest change of all

Zoom has been getting plenty of publicity, but Microsoft is cashing in, too. The number of users on its business messaging app, Microsoft Teams, is up 37 percent. And as more people work from home, businesses will switch to Microsoft, Google and Amazon for cloud computing services. 

The Verdict

These gains could be permanent. Society was already trending away from movie theaters and toward Netflix, away from department stores and toward Amazon. Even if America beats back the coronavirus sooner than later (fingers crossed), people will remember the convenience Big Tech provided.