Most of us have, at some time or other, been guilty of living for the weekends. We want to blast through the working week as quickly as possible to enjoy our two precious days of freedom when we can do as we please.
The current lockdown situation, however, has changed our ability to do pretty much all of the things we might have looked forward to in the past. Shopping, eating out, attending sporting events, seeing friends and family, going away – all of it has been stopped indefinitely. We can still binge watch TV but aren’t the furloughed doing that all week anyway?!
Instead, we have the opportunity to do things at home that don’t otherwise get done. Which is great, for the doers. But for some people, this relentless isolation and the associated boredom might be causing outbreaks of anxiety.
An effective way of overcoming these feelings is to engage with others. Easier said than done when the advice is to stay as far away from most people as possible! But that’s where technology can come in very handy. Tech has been nothing short of a saviour for us in recent months – from vulnerable people being able to video call their grandchildren, to young singletons living alone having group quizzes with their friends. Parties have happened virtually, of course, and all manner of services have transferred online too.
If this lockdown had happened even 5 years ago, we wouldn’t be in the arguably fortunate position we are now. We can chat to everyone we know and love, and engage with the services we need, all via the devices we have to hand every day. Technology is so advanced that our isolation hasn’t been in anyway complete, it’s only ever been physical.
So what does this all mean? Well for now, it means we get to stay connected to our loved ones and our necessary services (and the odd retail outlet we can’t seem to distance from). But going forwards, how might things change?
The role technology has played has been fundamental to our survival both economic and physical in many ways. We’ve managed to shift into working remotely and face to face services are executed at a distance. This only looks set to continue – and won’t the world be a better place for it?
Now, we are seeing that the huge office spaces that demanded filling with the full workforce are what should really be redundant. We have seen pollution levels drop. We have seen mental health improve in some respects as a work-life balance can be more easily achieved when the commute disappears and work breaks can see a quick chore done at home.
The whole world has become more flexible and staff have proven they can be trusted to be productive. Technology has also proven its worth a thousand times over, showing that we can stay informed, connected, engaged, collaborative, supported and supportive from wherever we may work.
Out of this awful situation, hopefully these improvements will remain on the commercial horizon with more of us able to work flexibly to suit both us and our employers. Hopefully we will see reduced congestion, pollution lowered and happier, more fulfilled employees thanks to a better overall balance. We’ll see businesses stay lean and efficient with smaller offices thanks to fewer colleagues being in attendance. Necessity might be the mother of invention, but she also bore innovation too. So let’s hope we don’t lose the agility and adaptability we’ve all adopted in recent weeks.
At Expertec, we focus on providing the best quality IT for your budget, whether it be for personal use or professional. If you want more bang for your buck, we suggest a refurbished desktop. They are tested and verified by our experts, have a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty and offer great value for money. Our top pick is the Dell Optiplex MT i3 8GB 500GB 120GB SSD with 1GB Graphics card + Windows 10
If you will be spending more time online, why not invest a monitor that will help to maintain your eye health such as this Asus 27" Eye Care LED Monitor?
Get in touch with us on 0800 2600688 to discuss any tech needs you have now, or in the future.
