Can we truly be effective in our academics and jobs by working from home? The challenges of balancing academic life and working from home has already seen its ups and downs. COVID-19 has turned society on its head. Many organizations such as schools and businesses have sent workers home due to this “outrage.”   It seems as if we are living in a twilight zone.  In addition, COVID-19 pandemic forced us all to shift our ways of life and operate in a whole new way in which we operate in our day to day. Moreover, these day to day tasks includes the way we are now working from home, being “categorized” between essential and nonessential workers, even the way we are completing educational assignments and requirements.

      COVID-19 has not slowed down on its [unfortunate] attack. The new norm of balancing academic life and work life seems to have placed a halt on socialization and civilization.  As a matter of fact, many states are ordering everyone to “stay at home.” We are now being advised to take the necessary precaution of practicing social distancing. Social distancing is not a new process; however, it is a new way of living during this pandemic (Morikawa, 2018). Balancing academic and work life has caused many citizens of the world to “conform” to such social distancing practices. Additionally, many of us are used to going about our day as we see fit. However, this new norm of social distancing has allowed us to reflect on our day to day of just being able to live. This pandemic has been a challenge on academic life. The COVID 19 news hit and immediately, schools and universities were instructed to shut down. Moreover, they were also told to leave the campus shortly thereafter (Strielkowski, 2020). 

      To extend this point, when these institutions started sending students, faculty, staff, and educators home due to COVID-19, more than few educators and institutions alike began venting on social media. Moreover, these education entities began wondering what’s next? Specifically, how would this pandemic affect productivity? COVID-19 has affected productivity from an academic and work life perspective.  However, it is critical that we, as a society, get creative and remain productive while we “social distance” in our homes. One of the many ways we can balance our academic life is via distance learning. Distance learning has been ideal for educating the masses since the late 1980’s (citation). Therefore, it has really been critical to the academic world. We now see many institutions continue the use of Blackboard, WebEx, Zoom, and Collaborate while the public-school systems have resorted to emailing assignments, using Google Classrooms, and Team meetings to continue the process of educating. This idea of balancing academic and work life has become a new norm. The time away from our “norm” life as we know it has caused us to tap into our creativity while social distancing.

References

Morikawa, M (2018). “Long Commuting Time and the Benefits of Telecommuting.” RIETI Discussion Paper, 18-E-025.

Strielkowski, W. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and the digital revolution in academia and higher education.