The Work at Home Trend Can Have Far-Reaching Effects.

The recent COVID pandemic resulted in a work at home requirement for many employees. Once the pandemic abated, many workers continued to work at home. This trend has many implications both positive and negative. Positive changes include: (1) A reduction in the expense of operating and maintaining office buildings. (2) The need for office buildings could potentially be eliminated or reduced to a much smaller structure. Cost savings can be appreciable. (3) Meetings could be held online. (4) The time lost to commuting can provide workers with more time to devote to online work. (5) Employees could realize more income by reducing the cost of commuting and car maintenance. (6) A reduction in pollution as vehicles are used less. (7) A reduction in the price of gasoline as transportation to work places declines. (8) Abandoned or reduced use of office building space can be converted to much needed living spaces. Working at home could have some negative ramifications including: (1) A loss of property value as office buildings decline in need. (2) A decrease in the construction of new office buildings. (3) An increase in abandoned buildings where alternate uses are not found. (4) Loss of tax revenue when cities are faced with abandoned buildings. (5) Loss of revenue by retail establishments like restaurants and shopping centers as office workers no longer commute to cities. (6) Loss of jobs by those needed to operate office buildings and retail establishments. (7) A decline in mass transit (buses and trains.)

Laptop usage can automatically improve a student's vocabulary and grammar

As school districts transition to one laptop computer per student the need for dictionaries should decline. This assumes that all reading and writing takes place on a laptop. In the recent past, a student had to stop reading and resort to a dictionary when confronted with a word that was unfamiliar. Today's computers can contain a built-in dictionary. When the student clicks on an unfamiliar word, the definition appears automatically. Another advantage would be laptops that flag and correct grammatical and spelling errors as a student writes. Repeated corrections should ultimately help the student learn correct grammar and spelling. Schools should see to it that all their computers have programs that provide word definitions and spelling/grammar checkers. These programs can help improve a student's reading and writing.