In recent times, it is becoming common to see people prefer to work and study online as opposed to face to face thanks to advanced technology. In my opinion, while telecommuting can be convenient and improve work-life balance, it can have several drawbacks such as social isolation and a lack of accessing resources.
There are several advantages to working and studying from home, one of which is linked to its conveniences. When people work and study through the internet, they have some opportunities like flexible schedule, comfortable environment and reduced distraction, all of which can allow employees and students to create personalized and ergonomic workspace as well as leading to increase their effectiveness and productivity. As a result, they can concentrate more their attention on their priorities and tasks. If they were the proponents of traditional way, they would miss out them. Another glaring benefits of this trend in contrast to face to face interaction is that it may help to achieve a balance between work and life. By working and studying from home, they can incorporate self-care routines and participate in family activities and events without the constraints of a rigid office and university scheduled. This, in turn, might strengthen the bonds within the family members apart from enhancing mental and emotional well-being.
Despite the benefits described above, the preference of remote work and study set-ups can reduce team collaboration. When individuals decide to work and study online, they can not have networking opportunities and team working. Both factors play a crucial role in career development and academic growth. Consequently, they often miss out the chances of building relationship with their peers and expanding professional or academic circle, which is currently becoming problem for younger generations. Apart from isolating socially, telecommuting can limit access to specialized equipment. As people work and study form their house, they are often cut off several special tools such as laboratory equipment, academic databases and physical libraries, all of which are not available in their home place. If they chose to traditional way of working and studying, all of them would be available for them.
Although there are several potential advantages that telecommuting brings including an increase productivity of work and education and a balance between career and family, the problems it poses in terms of a lack of interaction with people and necessary equipment.