(Photo credit @austindistel)
Just like everyone else, I've been watching tons of movies online as I ride out my work from home sojourn. Completely nerded out when Josh Gad brought the original Goonies cast together for a great reunion. (Fun fact: my sister and I can quote the entire movie, word for word. What can I say? It was the 80s - we were bored). Along with my other huge indulgence into nostalgia (NKOTB+BoyzIIMen+Blue Elmo House Party!!), it also got me thinking about the movie Back to the Future. Similar to our lives today, we are looking into the future & hoping to return to a past that cannot exist again as we remember it. Frustrating & challenging for so many people, but as with any societal disruption, there are also plenty of interesting & positive opportunities to explore.
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As states & cities/towns & businesses & universities, etc all look to the time "when everyone goes back," there is also a lot of speculation on what work will look like once we're "back." That means it's actually really important to look into our unimagined future as we all try to re-envision the workplace and how people interact & collaborate & simply do our work. Social distancing guidelines will likely remain a new fact of daily life until we establish proven treatments and ideally a cure. Really, we should be calling this 'back to the future.'
It's an interesting time for tech as many of the solutions for how to ensure workplace safety from the Covid19 virus include technical solutions like contact tracing apps, elevator timing, and increased usage of automatic door opening (to limit touching door handles). Also, new antimicrobial fabric covers for office chairs, overnight UV light disinfectants, and infrared body temperature scanners are among the many ideas that are being explored and developed.
With huge changes comes large challenges. With all of these new technologies being discussed, many of the normal problems arise, namely employee/customer privacy, ever-escalating cost, and uneven usage of any of these tools - not to mention the unknown efficacy of any of these solutions in limiting the spread of Covid19 as we still learn about the disease transmission patterns.
