Life rarely stands still, and we often find ourselves having to adapt to changes in technology as well as social and professional norms. The greatest change in recent years has been the move to a life online.
Remote living
There is not much that we cannot do virtually, and, now, many jobs can now be done online. Meetings can be held, files can be shared, and projects can be managed via online workspaces. For many, applications such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Flock have become their office space. People can clock in, get assigned tasks and collaborate with colleagues from the comfort of their own home. They can also chat in their breaks and carry out many processes such as making holiday requests.
High productivity, low costs
For many, this is a more productive way of doing things. There are very few or, in some cases, zero trips to the office required. This saves time and money and allows people to focus on the job and not get distracted by office dynamics. For others, the removal of the day-to-day interaction can be hard to adapt to. Even the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, said he favors the “serendipity” of in-person interaction, but admitted a hybrid work model could be the answer for his staff as reported by Insider.
Online recreation & retail
But it is not just the workplace that has moved online. Much of our social lives are now played out online. We chat on Zoom calls and interact on social media platforms. We get our news from Twitter and see what our friends have been up to via Instagram Reels.
For entertainment, we can binge the latest series on streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime. We can play live video games on PCs and consoles with friends or strangers from all over the world. If we want to play casino games, sites like like BonusFinder IE guide us to the newest and best betting sites and online casinos. Many even offer financial incentives to players going online for the first time.
The trend for online shopping has also accelerated rapidly, with more people than ever before buying everything from groceries to clothes at online retailers. We can even order our favorite takeaways from the comfort of our armchairs from apps including Just Eat and Deliveroo.
Just the beginninglike
If you think these trends are going away anytime soon, think again. Remote and hybrid working is set to increase as companies realize they can access a larger talent pool and save on costs by switching to remote or hybrid working practices.
We are also witnessing the early days of the Metaverse, an open-source digital environment that embraces virtual and augmented reality technology. In the metaverse, you can enter virtual environments as an avatar. This could be to play games or to hold meetings and social gatherings. However, in the future, entire worlds could be created where people can buy real estate and start businesses.
It is predicted the metaverse will have its own economy which could quickly be worth billions of dollars. People could also work full-time in the metaverse. The real world could eventually become a sanctuary we visit to escape the hustle and bustle of our virtual lives.
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