Possible positive and negative sides to Covid 19 lockdown: changing how we live our lives

[gorfias]

I'm hearing from all sorts of sources about possible positive and negative changes to our lives coming about due to our current lock down due to Covid 19.

I'd heard that carbon emissions are down substantially as people work from home so I looked up and the first link I came up with is from 2018!!! It suggests we work from home rather than commute as much as possible.

Telecommuting for the Planet

Want to cut emissions at your work place? Stay home. Not going into work could be one of the most environmentally sustainable things you can do as an individual employee. The two main contributors to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are transportation (29 percent) and electricity production (28...

climatechange.ucdavis.edu

I think the tech has been in place for 10 years or more now.

Work from home appears to be driving down gas prices as well. Where I am at, the price of Premium peaked for me at nearly $5 per gallon. I saw it yesterday posted at $2.25! Regular was something like $1.87. I've not seen that price in decades.

Will it change how we arrange our relationships, split child care duties, educate our young? My son is finishing a class online though he isn't happy about it. The class really requires some hands on as it a class in the trades. Perhaps in the future such a class would be supplemented with onsite labs.

Of course, all of this goes out the window and we just return to our old ways when the lock down ends.

Will we simply return to our old ways?

What may be some other upsides of the lock down? A baby boom? Lower STDs? Unintended downsides? More domestic violence and divorces?

Your thoughts?

 

[Fat Hippo]

I've been working from home for about three and a half weeks now, and I gotta say, I am not a fan. Maybe a day or two a week would be fine, even cozy, but being stuck at home, the only interaction with one's colleagues being virtual, that is no way for a team to work together. We are making do, but that is because we know this situation will be temporary. For those who have to fight through terrible traffic twice a day, I can see why working from home sounds nice. But I'd rather we improve transportation infrastructure, while making it more ecological as well, rather than permanently restrict ourselves to staying within our own four walls, a resignation to our own failures of urban planning.

As for online classes, I have nothing against supplementing our educations with online tools, where appropriate. As a student, I listened to the occasional podcast rather than visiting the lecture, when it was convenient or otherwise not possible for me. But the idea of entire university educations moving into the virtual space, with no real social interaction between students and professors, sounds horrendous to me. A university education should be more than just a series of classes and tests, the social component is important, just as it is at the workplace or anywhere else. The internet already makes it so easy to isolate ourselves, do we really wish to drift even further into this direction, in the name of supposed efficiency?

Modern technology offers many tools to aid in both education, work and otherwise, but I don't think we should chase it blindly, because some of the costs we pay to do this may take a form that can not be measured in terms of dollars or time spent, but still affect us nonetheless.

 

[Elfgore]

Working from home has both benefited and hurt me. A nice benefit is, I don't have to pay for gas. I get to wake up ten minutes before work instead of an hour. Same goes for when I'm off work, I just shut my computer down and I'm done. Maybe biggest of all, I get to wear flannel ever day.

Downsides are, my schedule is completely broken. Going to bed too late, not having my normal routine, etc. Biggest problem is my motivation. It's completely gone. I've kinda abandoned my diet, stopped going for walks, have become much more depressed. This is self-failing, but it was certainly started by having to work from home.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Downsides are, my schedule is completely broken. Going to bed too late, not having my normal routine, etc. Biggest problem is my motivation. It's completely gone. I've kinda abandoned my diet, stopped going for walks, have become much more depressed. This is self-failing, but it was certainly started by having to work from home.

I think that temporarily moving back in with my parents for the crisis, despite the obvious social ridicule it allows for, was the right move, since at least this way I have someone to impose a kind of schedule on me, and give me shit if I let things slide too much, since work or school can no longer force that on me in the current situation.

 

[Sneed's SeednFeed]

Upside: more time to read
Downside: getting physical books has become 1000x spicier

 

[gorfias]

Working from home has both benefited and hurt me. A nice benefit is, I don't have to pay for gas. I get to wake up ten minutes before work instead of an hour. Same goes for when I'm off work, I just shut my computer down and I'm done. Maybe biggest of all, I get to wear flannel ever day.

Downsides are, my schedule is completely broken. Going to bed too late, not having my normal routine, etc. Biggest problem is my motivation. It's completely gone. I've kinda abandoned my diet, stopped going for walks, have become much more depressed. This is self-failing, but it was certainly started by having to work from home.

I hear you.

I've spent $5 on gas in the last month. I too wake up minutes before the work day starts. I often take my shower during lunch break. I also stay up too late and my diet is screwed. Today, I put on a fitbit when it's firmware finishes updating. I try to do elliptical 20 min. a day.

 

[Martintox]

As for online classes, I have nothing against supplementing our educations with online tools, where appropriate. As a student, I listened to the occasional podcast rather than visiting the lecture, when it was convenient or otherwise not possible for me. But the idea of entire university educations moving into the virtual space, with no real social interaction between students and professors, sounds horrendous to me. A university education should be more than just a series of classes and tests, the social component is important, just as it is at the workplace or anywhere else. The internet already makes it so easy to isolate ourselves, do we really wish to drift even further into this direction, in the name of supposed efficiency?

Not only is the social component important, there's also the physical element to it. When you have be physically somewhere else for your work or your classes, there's that mental distinction that makes your obligations much more tangible in your mind. In addition, it's easier to forget about the pressure that comes from those obligations when it's attached to a location that you can physically leave. I think a lot of people have trouble working from home because everything is in the same place, and not everyone is able to create that boundary themselves.

I've been doing my classes online in the past month or so and I didn't have too much difficulty adjusting, but it does feel a lot less involving than actually being there, which is a drag.

 

[Baffle]

I've worked from home on my own for something like 10 years now. I'm kind of surprised by how hard some people are finding it, because I fucking love it (I mean, not the working, that's no fun at all, but so much better than working *and* being around lots of people).

I hope we start to be more appreciative that we don't know the whole story of people's lives. 'That guy's going out willy nilly! He's supposed to stay at home!' 'Yes mate, he's a nurse.'

I hope more people are allowed to work from home. It's good for some people and it's overall good for the environment.

I hope we appreciate the people who're still working. I hope we stop deriding the millennials and gen-Zs who're still actually going out to work and stocking our shops (healthy little buggers that they are).

I hope we realise a universal basic income isn't a stupid idea at all.

I hope the anti-vaxxers just STFU for, well, ever.

I hope people start to think about the whole eating animals thing.

What I think will actually happen is that we'll go back to business as usual as soon as feasibly possible.

 

[fOx]

The negatives:
-I got laid off
-My family got laid off
-My cousin died
-My dog died
-My car broke down and caught fire
-My dear mother got quarantined in the hospital

The positives:
-I got a free Dorito Taco

 

[Satinavian]

Always wanted to work from home. Now i can do so and it is bliss. It certainly helps that i am introvert and don't feel lonely at all atm.

I just hope i can keep at least part of the arrangement afterwards.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I'm a freelancer and work from abroad, so this lockdown has screwed me over, regrettably. I'm used to working from home plus all the issues that come with it, but WFH and the self-isolation/social distancing have been largely separate matters.

On the other hand, more time with the missus, and the folks are being more like a family (we're usually really standoff-ish towards each other).

 

[gorfias]

The negatives:
-I got laid off
-My family got laid off
-My cousin died
-My dog died
-My car broke down and caught fire
-My dear mother got quarantined in the hospital

The positives:
-I got a free Dorito Taco

I am so sorry for your troubles. I missed out on the free tacos.
But we have this f'n virus. We're stuck at home. The retirement funds are 1/2 what they were. It is mid-April and is snowing outside. Someone out there is playing Jumanji.

I'm a freelancer and work from abroad, so this lockdown has screwed me over, regrettably. I'm used to working from home plus all the issues that come with it, but WFH and the self-isolation/social distancing have been largely separate matters.

On the other hand, more time with the missus, and the folks are being more like a family (we're usually really standoff-ish towards each other).

The wife did lament we are not around each other more during this lock down. She is the one working like mad. 1/2 Easter Sunday she was in her work space! I did change some plans so I could hang out with her a bit more last night.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, people are saying that it's forced societies to work in a different way, for people to come up with new ways of doing things, and some of them may well have been worth doing anyway.

But, I expect business as usual when it's over. Except for more people losing their money, health and lives, of course.

 

[Baffle]

On the other hand, more time with the missus, and the folks are being more like a family (we're usually really standoff-ish towards each other).

Now is not the time to be hugging!

 

[SckizoBoy]

Now is not the time to be hugging!

I was probably as unclear as is possible(!) I live on the other side of the planet from my family and my wife's ill (not covid or anything too serious, but still, she's ill, so I'm taking care of her atm and we're being kinda lovey dovey about it), and as for my folks, they're actually talking to each other on a regular basis for once as a result of all that's going on. Eh...

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Well, people are saying that it's forced societies to work in a different way, for people to come up with new ways of doing things, and some of them may well have been worth doing anyway.

But, I expect business as usual when it's over. Except for more people losing their money, health and lives, of course.

Yeah, I see it as it's going to make it clear we do have some other options for how things can operate, but long term change? Doubtful.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Not only is the social component important, there's also the physical element to it. When you have be physically somewhere else for your work or your classes, there's that mental distinction that makes your obligations much more tangible in your mind. In addition, it's easier to forget about the pressure that comes from those obligations when it's attached to a location that you can physically leave. I think a lot of people have trouble working from home because everything is in the same place, and not everyone is able to create that boundary themselves.

I've been doing my classes online in the past month or so and I didn't have too much difficulty adjusting, but it does feel a lot less involving than actually being there, which is a drag.

Yeah, that's definitely been my problem with working from home. Once I shut down my laptop it still feels like I'm at work. I don't feel like I'm de-stressing as much as I do when I drive home from work and am in a different location physically.

Also, I do rather miss the social aspect of work. I'm not even an extrovert, but I actually like my coworkers, and our office is quite nice. I also miss going out and getting drinks with friends. Sure we just game together and drink in our individual houses, but it's just not the same.

On the up side I'm getting to spend a lot more time with my dog, and that forces me to go on more walks during the day. My fitbit has never been happier.

 

[Fieldy409]

I think a lot of bosses of offices that are currently working from home are going to stop and go "Wait a minute. Why the hell am I paying for rent, heating, electricity and water on something we don't even need a building to do?" I bet a lot of offices will want to stop leasing their buildings and give up brick and mortar entirely.

I honestly think the shake up of this when its all over(and it won't be in a few months) will be so great that it will be somewhere between World War 2 and september 11 in terms of how much it changes things.


I think there will be much more local manufacturing, at least at first until we forget the lessons learned, as this is a real slap in the face to world leaders that if anything goes wrong with the global trade you need your country to be able to produce its own food and materials to meet as much of its basic needs as possible. Which might be nice to lower local unemployment since China terk our jerbs in manufacturing....

 

[Baffle]

So, how about those oil prices?

 

[Elfgore]

So, how about those oil prices?

This year and the ending of last year have been nothing but stress for my fucking job. I thought I'd be safe working for a gas station chain in corporate until I at least get my degree. Each and every day is a new stressful event that makes me worry I'll be furloughed or laid off.

Also, I do rather miss the social aspect of work. I'm not even an extrovert, but I actually like my coworkers, and our office is quite nice. I also miss going out and getting drinks with friends. Sure we just game together and drink in our individual houses, but it's just not the same.

Yep, this is me. I like most people I work with and enjoy talking with them. The only people I talk to in person now is close family, this is coming from talking to co-workers and hanging out with my friends for a few hours each week. It's killing me.