(Definition: Telecommuting: Workers doing all or part of their work from home and communicating with their office by computer.)
Telecommuting: will it change the world?
Telecommuting will have major effects in the worlds or work and family life. However, its biggest effect will be in the area of individual freedom, responsibility, and time management.
Work and workplace will alter dramatically. Offices may become smaller, as fewer desks are needed. There will be greater need for high bandwidth connections to link the office and the home, and even homes to other homes, as other employees and supervisors also begin working at home. Hours spent commuting, traffic jams, and fights for parking should diminish, as workers make fewer journeys or work staggered hours.
Family life will also change. Workers, both husbands and wives, can arrange their work around family commitments such as taking children to school, cooking,leisure activities, etc. However, households will also have to set aside areas for work particularly if both spouses are telecommuting.
However, although the ideas of more time at home and less time travelling are attractive, there are some drawbacks to telecommuting. People may feel unable to escape their work, and may even work longer or more unsocial hours. The quality of work may suffer because of the reduced face-to-face interaction with other employees. There may be delays if other workers are not immediately available. Telecommuters may feel isolated or unmotivated, or insecure about decisions. A major change will be in the way people think about work as a place or an institution. Instead, they will focus on the task or product. Workers may feel less loyal to a company and more inclined to change jobs or work part-time or on contract.
In conclusion, the effects are difficult to predict because they depend on the extent to which telecommuting becomes popular. However, telecommuting could be the start of a major societal shift, possibly as big as the Industrial Revolution which created our present ideas of work.
Animal testing.
Everyday, thousands of people are saved from painful diseases and death by powerful medical drugs and treatments. This credible gift of medicine would not be possible without animal testing. Despite these overwhelming benefits, however, some people are called for animal testing to be banned because of alleged cruelty. This essay will examine arguments for and against animal testing.
Those against the use of animal testing claim that it is inhumane to use animals in experiments. I disagree completely. It would be much more inhumane to test new drugs on children or adults. Even if it were possible, it would also take much longer to see potential effects, because of the length of time we five compared to laboratory animals such as rats or rabbits.
Opponents of animal testing also claim that the results are not applicable to humans. This may be partly true. Some drugs have had to be withdrawn, despite testing. However, we simply do not have alternative methods of testing. Computer models are not advanced enough, and testing on plants is much less applicable to humans than tests on animals such as monkeys. Until we have a better system, we much use animal testing. A further point often raised against animal testing is that it is cruel. Some of the tests certainly seem painful, but the great majority of people on this planet eat meat or wear leather without any guilt. Where is their sympathy for animals? Furthermore, animals clearly do not feel the same way as humans, and scientists are careful to minimize stress in the animals, since this would damage their research.
I agree that we need to make sure that animals who are used for testing new products have the minimum of suffering. However, I am convinced that animal testing is necessary, and that it will continue to benefit humans in new and wonderful ways.
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