How have developments in information technology changed the ways people work?
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Why do you think some people decide to move away from the city and live in the country?
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What difficulties might they face?
Practice
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Reading
MODERN LIVING | WORK
One of the most noticeable effects of the huge changes in information technology has been on the way people work. Having to live near your workplace is no longer a restriction because you can do so much on the computer at home. In fact, some people are discovering that they can do everything from home and don’t need a workplace at all.
My wife and I had talked about ‘getting out of our comfort zone’ for some time before we finally stopped making excuses for not doing it. We decided to give up our well-paid jobs in the city and move to a remote village in the country.
Now roughly a year has gone by, so maybe it’s time to stop and ask ourselves some questions. What have we gained from it, and how much have we lost? The main answer to the first question, I think, is ‘a simpler and healthier life’. And the answer to the second question is ‘not very much’. We are poorer than before, of course, and we work a lot harder. Our social network has shrunk too as we don’t go out as much (mainly because there aren’t very many places to go). On the other hand, we have more control over our time: we can now choose when we do things.
What we’ve found, though, is that we don’t need all the latest fashions, computer games and other things we used to buy without even thinking about it. We don’t have to wear new clothes to impress others, and we definitely don’t have time to play computer games.
I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. The initial period was quite hard and we weren’t convinced we were capable of living this way. There was no guarantee that our decision was the right one. To be honest, we’re still not 100% sure, but we certainly don’t regret trying.