What percentage of time are you spending at home now compared to last year?

What percentage of time are you spending at home now compared to last year?...Is it because of covid19 or because of life changes that would have occurred regardless of covid19?...I'm just curious, for myself covid19 has directly influenced the conditions which increased my time at home, about a thirty to forty percent increase...

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I have spent massively more time at home this year, and the reason is Covid. I worked full time in an office up until early March. I stopped working at the office in early March because I could see which way the wind was blowing, the virus was arriving in my area in a big way and there was very little at that point being done about it, and I started working at home. My office closed on the 16th of March, like many other workplaces around the country.

On the 23rd of March, the British government announced a nation-wide lockdown would be in effect. Very little was open in this country except food stores and other essential businesses (such as pharmacies) for more than three months, and we were not to visit friends and family, or to meet up with them out of doors, so there was little cause to go out except for grocery shopping and exercise.

I have 4 hours more for homelife every day when I combine primping, lunches with office workers, and commuting.

I have rebuilt a fence. Installed 3 flower beds, made a perfect yard, and my guitar skills are growing by leaps and bounds.

We have great colaboration tools available today, so we truely are agile and productive.

Avatars are now available and one guy turned himself into a talking cat in our last meeting.
How fun!
Analysts and support staff have only grown closer through all this.

We do miss the daily social chatter of the office, but I see no need to go back to the office.

So from now on I plan to work remotely about 90+ percent of the time for the remainder of my career.

Not everyone can do that, I know.... but to be honest, I chose I.T. for this reason 25 years ago.

I never dreamed it would take so long for people to adopt the remote advantage.

I certainly never thought that it would require a pandemic for people to figure out how good the age of computers can be.

Now, our way of thinking has changed and this will open us up to big growth and improve our planet at the same time.

Hopefully we will have less need for clearing jungles to build office buildings and we can reduce all the concrete redundancies.

We will have more time to focus on work/life balance, improve our well being. and pursue a new and improved passion for learning. We are improving ourselves more efficiently than ever.

The next 10 years could show more growth than the last 100. I think people are finally primed and ready to take full advantage of the tools.

My prediction-
(Already starting to happen.)
Politicians and greedy misdeeds of an upper 1% will lose power as computers give people the power to choose for themselves... People will come together more when they realize a truely united front. The laws of the gravitas of truth will permiate and majority rule will become a socially built and prosperous reality. A high council of millions of individuals with the power to come to a concensus when faced with realities.

People can govern themselves, and they will, once the blinders are removed.

They will realize they no longer need leaders as they begin to harness the power of unity.

People are realizing that these 'leaders' have falsely propped up the chaos of racism and social disarray for their own desires.

A evolution now exists. Not to be confused with revolution, because it is not a fight. It is simply a new age.

Welcome to the new age...

Thanks, this thread is more of a personal nature let's keep the political stuff in the political thread...

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AD1184 said:

I have spent massively more time at home this year, and the reason is Covid. I worked full time in an office up until early March. I stopped working at the office in early March because I could see which way the wind was blowing, the virus was arriving in my area in a big way and there was very little at that point being done about it, and I started working at home. My office closed on the 16th of March, like many other workplaces around the country.

On the 23rd of March, the British government announced a nation-wide lockdown would be in effect. Very little was open in this country except food stores and other essential businesses (such as pharmacies) for more than three months, and we were not to visit friends and family, or to meet up with them out of doors, so there was little cause to go out except for grocery shopping and exercise.

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There's very little of my profession that I can do from home, some PLC programming remotely on occasion if I have that type work to do...I've been looking for another job and getting things in place to work for myself doing contract work, whichever route gives a good opportunity...In the meantime I have plenty of things to do at home, it's interesting that a few decades ago I also had a large amount of time on my hands, however I didn't have a 'permanent' place of residence like I do now because I traveled quite a bit and lived at short term residences, rentals and whatnot...

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Kchoo said:

I never dreamed it would take so long for people to adopt the remote advantage.

I certainly never thought that it would require a pandemic for people to figure out how good the age of computers can be.

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It's really the businesses and corporations that have adopted this remote atmosphere of working, in the past they had you come to the office to make sure you're doing the work that needs to be done... Now in the age of the Coronavirus they can no longer enforce that policy so they had to adapt and change, which is beneficial to most people anyway... I prefer mix some work at home and some at the plant or location...

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I used to work remote quite a bit and enjoyed it, with the caveat that if I did something wrong I had to jump in my truck and go fix it, which might be 100+ miles away in a place filled with irritated people because I broke something.

There was always a stigma to it despite the fact that I could be extremely productive. Virtualization has made physical location almost irrelevant in an IT environment. Trying to keep a sense of 'where you are' when you're in a big network can be interesting. The trend is now to keep a very few technical people remote and then go hire animals from a circus menagerie, the mentally infirm or just plain personality defective to act as universal 1099 remote hands (that are likely none too clean).

Also finished over 60 credits online at an accredited SUNY school to complete a BS. I have friends who are teachers and they correctly warned me about the snobbery around a degree like that. Now it's becoming far more mainstream. To them and all that, I say double dumbass on you ......

I find that probably 90% of my time is spent at home. Between retirement and COVID there hasn’t been a need to go out much. My traveling has consisted of doctor’s appointments and the occasional going out with my wife. Visits with family and friends are cut back to practically zero. I have to admit I don’t miss it much.

I rarely know what the date or day of week is. My traditional Sunday morning Paracast coffee mug gets left out the night before by my wife sometimes because she knows I am disoriented, or disconnected, or both. Only way I know a week has passed. That's been the case for me for the past 3 years anyway and covid just made it worse. We were home bodies to begin with and not too much has changed except before we had the option to go places that right now we don't.

pigfarmer said:

I rarely know what the date or day of week is. My traditional Sunday morning Paracast coffee mug gets left out the night before by my wife sometimes because she knows I am disoriented, or disconnected, or both. Only way I know a week has passed. That's been the case for me for the past 3 years anyway and covid just made it worse. We were home bodies to begin with and not too much has changed except before we had the option to go places that right now we don't.

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I am in the same boat. I kept telling my wife about the things I needed to do Wednesday. She politely said that today is Thursday. Oops!