Oh, good Lord, Quillette.

Currently, K-12 schools provide several services: mass babysitting, socialization and, of course, actual learning. There has traditionally value in the bundling together of these services. But the perceived value has decreased now that many parents have discovered during these homeschooling months that at least some actual learning can take place effectively in the home.

None of us have seen any appetite for this; rather, we've seen the understandable desire among parents to have someone take these kids off our hands for a few hours every day so we can get some work done.

And so the idea of curated social encounters will extend from its current niches in luxury networking conferences and the like, and increasingly become the norm by which we make new friends and acquaintances.

No, we're not going to seek "curated social encounters" — we're going to want to go back to the bar, the restaurant, the pool hall, or whatnot. Whether that's possible or advisable is another matter, but this is not going to create a market among the masses for bespoke social events.

And those who do need to leave the house every day, because they are, say, cooks, personal care workers, hospital orderlies and the like, may eventually be able to command fairer wages or even salary premiums.

Call me when a janitor or restaurant dishwasher is pulling down six figures.

With so many top cultural institutions making their performances available to all online, aficionados are growing accustomed to watching the best live performances—from pop stars performing in pyjamas all the way up to opera and ballet—from the comfort of viewers’ own homes. If anything, people lament not having sufficient time to watch all of these excellent offerings.

No, these things are a stopgap. If there was an appetite for them, the marketplace would have demanded their creation before this moment in time.

What is the editorial process of getting an essay approved on Quillette? Does anyone look at this shit and say it doesn't hold up to the most basic scrutiny, it's boring, it's repetitive, or any combination of the three?

Looking forward to the day when the government insists that we're free to leave our homes any time we want, but the second we do, we'll get a call on our cell phones from some government agency demanding to know what we're doing outside.

Yeah, most of that is silly. This just accelerated some changes that were already in progress. Movie theaters were already falling apart because people can get a better movie experience at home. So why pay theater prices? As for opera, orchestra, plays and such, the consumer market that wants to consume that content at home has already done so for decades now. As people feel safe those markets will return in full.

Kevin, when they talk about 'curated, high-quality social encounters' I think they are just talking about how much people talk to random strangers. Got to justify that english degree I guess. And also a trend that well predates COVID-19.

None of us have seen any appetite for this; rather, we've seen the understandable desire among parents to have someone take these kids off our hands for a few hours every day so we can get some work done.

Yes, that's what I've been hearing too. For full-time stay-at-home parents (or those who lost their jobs), maybe the challenge to do dabble in homeschooling has been rewarding. But when both parents work, a lot of them have to do work in the middle of the night (while kids sleep) to even be able to fulfill a fraction of their job expectations. And, for the kids, learning has been stripped down to its bare bones at best.

A teacher friend of mine says the ONLY advantage of remote learning is that it's solved a lot of bullying problems and "drama." But, as far as actual learning, there's a huge divide between families with a parent who can homeschool somewhat and families who just can't swing that.

As for me ... I like not being overscheduled these days, and part of me dreads the day when people want to "make plans" again. I like the ability to have impromptu calls (b/c everyone is home). I like not having to fight traffic for an hour to get anywhere ... But even I am ready to get back to my hobbies, bars, live performances, etc. And most people I know are DESPERATE to get out there again.

“The very idea of our home as a sort of base from which we emerge into the world every day will increasingly become obsolete. For many, a new presumption will emerge whereby staying at home is the daily default. And those who do need to leave the house every day, because they are, say, cooks, personal care workers, hospital orderlies and the like, may eventually be able to command fairer wages or even salary premiums.“

There will be no salary premiums. Not all, but many of these jobs will largely disappear. Much of this work can and will be done by robots.

I'm going to go with "disagree".

Many jobs will come with the baseline expectation of the home as the default workplace, and the prospective employer will be required to negotiate if she requires you to come to an office or some other work location.

The employers will be yanked back to reality when some doofus employee's self-owned computer is infiltrated by bad actors, and they follow them back to the employer's data farm and infiltrate that. And that leads to a massive data breach.

Oh, you're going to send company owned computers (and computer support) to your employees homes? that should work out well. Speaking as someone who provides technical support, how about the hells no?

Not all, but many of these jobs will largely disappear.

Agree with this. Some employers will come to the realization that they're over staffed. And they can do a staff reduction due to "concerns over corona virus".

Yes, it's a layoff. It's a termination. But it sounds vaguely in the public good, and thus heroic.

Work from home stuff has been around for quite a while now. At least two decades. Nothing recent is going to change the fact that managers want to oversee their workers working and most people aren't diligent enough to work from home with all the distractions available and no supervision. The IT stuff is a fairly small factor compared to that.

I predict that public spaces will become frequent scenes of gladiatorial combat because only the bravest or most foolhardy will venture out. And everyone will wear assless chaps.

Where are people getting the idea that we're now living in a permanent pandemic? I've seen similar assumptions elsewhere. Is there some source or is this just neurosis at work?

They gotta fill the page and with no one going out there really isn't that much news to write about. If they don't fill the blog how are they going to generate add revenue?

The only Einat Wilf I can find online is some Israeli politician. But it looks like she lost that job back in 2013 and has been writing books ever since.

I must say if we are going to require universal assless chaps as part of our culture then staying home for the rest of my life doesn't sound too bad.

Chaps are assless by design.

Ben's point is good. Dismissing the IT dimension is mid-level management thinking. It's all fun and games until the shit goes pear shaped and causes problems.

To err is human. To really fuck things up, use a computer.

how are they going to generate add revenue?

They're not. My understanding is that online ad revenue is off. An awful lot. Even if they had fantastically great material, it wouldn't matter.

The question will increasingly become: If we will no longer need to leave our homes, what are the purposes for which we will want to leave our homes? The bar for opening the door and going outside is simply going to be set much higher.

Yes, indeed, that's why everyone is happy to be snug as a bug in their houses or apartments and not at all thinking JESUS CHRIST GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT I DO BEFORE I GO CRAZY.

(And I want to meet the editor who read this essay and thought "These are some good points.")

Ranks right up there with "Let's abandon our manufacturing sector and work in the New Information Economy instead".

I'm not completely dismissing the IT angle IRA. But I've seen work from home schemes like this come and go over and over again. The two issues that kill it off are managers wanting to see their workers working and workers putting things off and putting things off till they haven't done any work for a month. I'm sure IT issues would crop up, but those other two issues kill things off before IT can become a problem.

On the add revenue, how do they pay for quillette? Add revenue may be pathetic but if that is all you've got then that is all you've got.

Last I recall Goggle is all about the adds, Twitter is about propaganda and doesn't really need to make a profit, Facebook is about customer data, and Amazon is split between mail-order-catalog and servers. Did things change in the last year or so?

most people aren't diligent enough to work from home with all the distractions available and no supervision.

Scott Adams riffed on this in a recent Dilbert cartoon. He showed Dilbert (who's normally portrayed as extremely diligent and competent) working from home for three days. The first day he thinks to himself, "I got a lot done." The second day he's shown lying on the couch thinking "If I goof off just a little, who'll know?" The third day is totally wasted.

I, too, will miss these days, where every day is Sunday. I'm a SAHM, so the homeschooling aspect has been fun. We are slowly returning to normal, though. We did some tourism yesterday and drove an hour and a bit to walk along a beautiful lake with my MIL (who joined us from the opposite direction), and we're having her come next week and she's talking about the touristy things she wants to do when she comes here.

Sigh.

Yes, the lake is spectacular as is is the chateau she wants to visit. But there's something to be said for NOT getting into the car and driving and driving. We have lovely walks here, maybe not as spectacular, but lovely little winding paths through the woods, with Jura views. Maybe we don't need to rush around for exciting experiences. Maybe we don't need to host people so much, travel so much.

It was nice to have the excuse not to go.

Changes... I've been wondering about that. My friends who work part time more or less stopped working... the traditional one person earning money, one person in charge of the household model worked very well in this pandemic... couples with full time jobs and kids (especially only ONE kid) had a rough time.

I think things will get back to normal. But I'm grateful for the couple months of calm we had before we go back to rushing around.

"Where are people getting the idea that we're now living in a permanent pandemic? I've seen similar assumptions elsewhere. Is there some source or is this just neurosis at work?"

If the President says we have to open up, many in the press automatically will start pushing the exact opposite position: "Inside forever". So neurosis, but mainly anti-trump neurosis rather than virus neurosis.
Annually there are about 2.8 mill deaths in the US. in 2 months this added 70 thou (about 2%), the original bad projection was a few million, or double/tripple our death rate, current bad projection is 1-2 hundred thousand. (maybe 5-10%)
As to it being permanent, yeah in the same way the flu is permanent.

Joe, not everything revolves around the US and its President.

Countries that don't really GAF are also talking about the possibility of being in and out for a few years.

One percent. 1%. That's how much additional safety the current measures are giving 99% of the population. And that's assuming 100% effectiveness. 1%. Are you going to lose your house, your business, your income for that? Destroy your manufacturing and food production for that? How could it possibly be worth it?

One percent. 1%. That's how much additional safety the current measures are giving 99% of the population. And that's assuming 100% effectiveness. 1%. Are you going to lose your house, your business, your income for that? Destroy your manufacturing and food production for that? How could it possibly be worth it?