Writing Feedback / Learning and working from home, positive or negative development? [4]

Topic:
Around the world, many adults are working from home, and more children are beginning to study from home because technology has become cheaper and more accessible.

Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Answer:
Thanks to the advancement of technology, distant working and learning have been made possible for both workers and students. I think that this practice has brought about ample benefits to the society, yet other downsides of it should also be taken into consideration.

Firstly, working and learning from home do wonders for the environment. It has been statistically reported that the daily commute to work and school of citizens is the one of the main contributory factors to the increase in carbon emissions. By practicing distant learning and working, people can reduce the number of journeys they make every day, hence decreasing the amount of carbon footprint emitted from motorised vehicles. Besides, the lowered demand for fuels used to run transportation would also gradually put a halt to the overexploitation of fossil fuels, another environmental issue.

On the other hand, staying at home to learn and work continuously may have some certain adverse effect on people. Distant learning means that children will not have a chance to meet their peers face-to-face and have real interactions, which may negatively affect their communicative and social skills. More specifically, when students just study online, they would not have opportunities to encounter different social situations in which they have to deal with in real life, such as having a conflict with friends when playing. Moreover, learning and working from home discourage people from being physically active as they hardly have to move from place to place. This may result in a sedentary lifestyle and hence, other diseases such as obesity.

To conclude, distant learning and working may have significant impacts on the improvement of the environment. However, it may create some mental and physical issues to people who experience it for a long time.