Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ZOOM QUIZZES, SOCIAL distancing, and limiting your contacts… Everyday life looks quite different right now to the way it looked a year ago.
But thinking ahead to this time next year, or even five years from now, what would you like daily life to look like? Which pandemic habits will you be happy to see the back of? And which parts of the ‘new normal’ will you try to keep around?
The 25th annual Science Week runs from November 8-15. This year’s theme is ‘Choosing Our Future’, and there will be hundreds of virtual events all week long, including the chance to share what you have learned from the Covid-19 pandemic via a mass public debate (you can register for that right here).
In the spirit of change and choice, last week we asked you to rate your feelings on life post-pandemic. Below are six sentiments your results revealed to us, plus insights from Science Week experts on how to turn those hopes for the future into reality…
What does the work environment of the future look like, given the events of this year? Our readers rated their desire to work from home on a more permanent basis at a strong 6.6/10. These feelings are echoed in a new survey by Science Week, in which 40% of respondents said they never want their workplace to go back to how it was pre-Covid.
Those who are planning on working from home more post-pandemic will need to start planning ahead now, says Prof Alan Smeaton, a founding director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at DCU:
“Most of us are experiencing tremendously reduced boundaries between home and work. The home space can be inappropriate for working in – you’re trying to focus and a delivery arrives, the dog is barking, there are kids crawling on you.”
These distractions might be okay in the medium term, but if you’re keen on extending home-working into the much longer-term, then it’s worth considering how your space works for you and what could be improved. And then there’s your mental health to think about:
Even with the best will in the world, there are a good number of us not following the tips about getting dressed for work each day, or going for a walk before we start work. Those will be watch-outs going forward – what are you doing to mark out the start and end of your working day?
Conferences, coffee breaks, birthday parties, pub quizzes: many of this year’s social and work gatherings have taken place on laptop and phone screens. Video conference service Zoom took on 105,000 new sign-ups across April, May and June 2020 alone, with revenue skyrocketing compared to last year.
It’s a trend our readers are on board with – they rated their confidence that they’d use video calling regularly post-pandemic at a healthy 5.9/10. But in Science Week’s survey, the results were in favour of using a mix of online and in-person meetings (53%) rather than just online (16%).
For Smeaton, a video call simply can’t compare to a face-to-face interaction. Well at least, not yet:
The platforms that we have right now fall short when it comes to picking up non-verbal cues. Body language, subtle eye rolling, even the signs that someone is distracted, all of that is missed. But I suspect that companies like Microsoft, Google and Zoom are all working overtime to add new features that’ll help their calls replicate face-to-face meetings.
While financial uncertainty, health anxiety and concerns about loved ones are not new feelings for most of us, they’ve entered our lives in new and more frequent ways since March. Readers rated their desire to reduce their stress levels at a huge 7/10 – but what’s the best way to make that happen?
Pandemic or not, the same stress reduction principles still apply, says Deirdre Robertson from the Behavioural Research Unit at the ESRI.
Social interactions are vital, and quality is more important than quantity here. There’s also so much research that being outdoors is good for reducing stress and improving wellbeing.
And beyond that, it’s important to focus on what you can control, rather than on what you can’t:
We did a study early in the pandemic asking people to plan in a concrete way how they’d cope with Covid-specific scenarios like having to self-isolate – to write down what they’d do. That exercise had a significant impact on how confident they felt about coping with those scenarios.
One positive impact of the pandemic is that we’ve all been staying closer to home, commuting less, and cutting out long-haul travel entirely. Readers rated their likelihood of cycling/walking somewhere over driving (if given the choice) as 5.6/10 – so how can we grow that figure even more?
“[The response to] Covid has been a great example of strong government leadership combined with individual action, and we need to take that approach with reducing the environmental footprint of our transport too,” says Tara Shine, environmental scientist and author of How To Save Your Planet One Object At A Time.
Even small changes can have a significant impact, and the more people making those changes the better. Shine suggests a few:
“If you have a regular journey that you can cycle or walk, give it a go, even just one day a week. Ask your boss if you can work from home more to cut down on commuting – ‘no’ is an unacceptable answer.”
Shine stresses that anyone can start to take steps toward living a more environmentally conscious life. “Being green isn’t just for an elite group, it’s for everyone.”
This summer, Irish people swapped sun holidays for staycations, but is it a trend that could stick around? The answers were mixed, with readers rating their likelihood of choosing a domestic holiday over an international one as 4.5/10.
While we may not be ready to remove long-haul travel from our lives entirely, Shine says it’s important to be mindful of the trips we do take in the future. “One thing I will be doing personally is joining more meetings remotely, rather than travelling internationally or around Ireland to attend. Why travel to London for the day when you could spend an hour on Zoom instead?”
It’s vital that we make more of these kinds of choices in the years to come, she adds:
If we keep going as we are, we’re going to warm up the earth beyond safe levels, and we’ll pass major tipping points. This will have negative effects on weather, food, security and water supply. It’s not a place we want to go.
Habits like mask-wearing and standing back when you meet someone in the street have become embedded in our everyday. And our readers rated their likeliness at taking precautions like wearing a mask post-pandemic at a healthy 5.6/10.
But what will a “safe” interaction look and feel like in a year or two years from now? Could the pandemic have a permanent impact on how we form relationships and the way we act around one another?
“Human relationships will always endure,” says Deirdre Robertson.
The pandemic isn’t the first phenomenon to have caused a shift in how we interact – think about social media or mobile phones. We always adapt to whatever is new but the basic foundations stay the same.
She does predict some positive shifts in how we spend time together. “People are already spending more time outside. I think we’ll start to see more of the ‘cafe culture’ of continental Europe, with a buzz on the streets and a sense of community.”
The 25th annual Science Week takes place from November 8-15. This year’s theme is ‘Choosing Our Future’, and there’ll be hundreds of virtual events taking place, from talks to demos to workshops. Find out more at scienceweek.ie.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Sounds like a dáta gathering exercise similar to the mandatory PPS card
@Ashling Fenton: they already have the data
@Ashling Fenton: PPS card. This country needs a national ID card.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: No, no it does not.
The feckin’ Guards are bad enough as it is without giving them Gestapo-like ideas.
“Papers please”
A disaster waiting to happen. Everything’s going online and no human available to talk to about it.
@reg morrisey: they will have a chatbot which has the capability to answer questions you are not asking and be of no use whatsoever.
When will the useless chatbot be consigned to the bin?
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: Clippy lives.
Russia must be salivating at the thought of this.
@Daniel Skelton: You never told us non aviation folk (who you scoffed at) why the north runway was closed a few weeks ago?!?! It was only broken at 500ft.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: I don’t think you know despite pretending you did!?!?
I will collect the free information booklet
and put it with my iodine tablets and gathering postcards
@Aisling Lohan: I assume you wrote that comment on a typewriter and posted it off to the Journal’s offices.
Unless it costs 500 million and is a complete waste of time we’re not interested
A hackers wet dream!
we can’t build a hospital…yet we think we can secure people’s data …doing what Europe tells us ….
It’s all just for your convince, and definitely not to track you like a Chinese dissident who can be shut down and switched off in a micro second.
@087 bed: paranoid much?!
@Donna Fallon: “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean their not out to get you”. LOL
Unsavory actors could hack into the database, and add people, or delete them.
You might no longer officially exist.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: its only a digital copy.not the actual documents,which can be kept safely elsewhere
@Systemic 31: Now try to get someone to even talk with when you don’t exist anyway.
We’re running headlong into a dystopian society
@Vincent Hickey: Having a copy of my driving license on my phone is dystopian? Who knew.
@Jason Memail: lol
@Jason Memail: Well, you could always take a photo of same for reference.
The Digital driver’s licence should be required to start a vehicle and should only be eligible if you are fully insured, too many uninsured drivers are causing carnage on our roads causing tragic traumatic Life altering or ending events on our roads.
@Cormac McKay: A problem easily solved.
If the state compels us to have 3rd party insurance, then the state should provide it. Remove profit scheming insurance companies from the equation altogether.
(If anyone wants any additional level of insurance, such as fully comp, then they can go to a private profit gouging insurance company.)
If the state charged for this insurance through a fuel surcharge, as an example, then every vehicle is automatically insured.
@Cormac McKay: Your point seems to be anchored on the idea that having insurance makes you a better driver, which is fundamentally false. Insurance is only an agreement to do something if an incident occurs, it doesn’t prevent the incident happening in the first place.
@Jason Memail: i agree. It doesnt make people better drivers because accidents happen but it covers you if someone is injured or there is damage done to a car you have a loan on.
Great idea, scrap the plastic cards and paper passports once and for all.
@Ben dover: And if your abroad and lose your phone?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: if you lose your phone or tablet containing them, you will most likely be able to go online at another source and retrieve your information that way while at the same time blocking your lost item. Just an idea?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: everyone will eventually have a barcode tattoo
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: It doesn’t say it’s replacing physical documents, it’s just another tool for convenience. It’s a pain in the Swiss losing physical documents too, I can only speak for myself but I’m more likely to lose something physical than my phone (including bank cards). It’s one reason I like the passport card, easier to keep close to me at all times than the book.
@Megan Ward: Stolen phones?
And could the thief use that phone to impersonate you?
I’d imagine phones are targets for theft more than any other item even today.
With all that extra valuable information on them…
And how would you be able to go online to retrieve that information, when it is – presumably – stored on a government database to which you will probably also have lost account access.
Unless you are able to remember the gazillion extra user names and passwords that would be added to all those we have to try to keep control of already.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: If my phone is stolen and the thief threatens me to such a violent and scary extent that I tell them my passcode, or knocks me out so that they can pull my eyelids open and use my Face ID, I’ve got bigger problems than worrying what they’ll get into on my phone. If this did happen and they were able to get into my phone, I’d be using iCloud to remotely erase the phone. Phones can be stolen with or without these ‘digital wallets’, this isn’t a new potential issue.
I’d be screwed if I was abroad and someone stole a bag that contained my cash and passport if I only used cash, is that a reason for no one to ever carry cash? No, you use what you prefer and the more backup methods you have, the better.
I don’t know about you but I prioritise learning more important passwords off by heart. More concerned about making sure I remember my Gmail password or Apple ID than my Facebook or ASOS password, for example.
Let’s save the fretting until this is mandatory, maybe? If you don’t want to use it, don’t. If they announce that they’re slashing physical ID documents then we can start panicking. There are lots of features people use that others freak out at the idea of, like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Oh, because you’ll come back with ‘and how will you log into iCloud when your phone is gone???’ I would use the phone of a friend, my boyfriend or family. Or find an internet café. Or use my iPad if I’ve brought that and left it in the hotel safe. If I’m doing a solo trip, I need to be extra careful about absolutely anything. Wouldn’t go on many holidays if we assumed the worst will happen every time, though.
@Megan Ward: It’s not about assuming the worst will happen.
But it will happen to some.
And it’s not about someone torturing you to gain account information.
We thought our bank cards were secure. Until several ways of hacking these were created.
We thought our bank accounts were safe, until scammers found ways.
There are many spywares and the like that may already be on your phone.
With new ones coming down the line all the time.
I’ve yet to meet many who don’t let their device handle their account information, and who would have any clue what their account names and passwords are.
When they get a new device they have no clue how to get onto their accounts anymore.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: You’re right, there could be spyware on our phones and computers stealing our data, getting into all of the websites we use and taking important personal data. What’s the solution, go off the grid and use nothing? Never use things like Revenue Online Service (that contains very important information) in case it’s hacked? That’s not a practical solution for most, all we can do is practice good internet security techniques, use 2 Factor Authentication where possible and the like.
With all due respect to them, those people are very careless. You’re right in that there are so many websites now it’s hard to remember passwords to all, but it’s not a big ask to remember your Google password, Apple/Android details, basically anything you’ll need to get into things again. In almost 20 years of using the internet I’ve been completely locked out of something once, because it was linked to an old email service that’s now defunct. I don’t understand these people who seemingly don’t even know their email password and keep setting up new accounts for everything every time they get a new device.
@Megan Ward: Nope!
Just don’t make ourselves unnecessarily reliant on one single point of failure.
(Although physically we have single points of failure in our brains and our hearts.)
Always have a paper copy of your birth cert somewhere.
A physical passport.
And so on.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: I think everyone can agree on that. I first got the passport card when I was visiting the US for the first time, knew I’d need ID everywhere but they don’t accept age cards and I didn’t fancy the idea of having my passport book out everywhere especially if drinking, so kept that in the safe. Handy to have the card anyway.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Nobody is suggesting that digital versions of birth certs or drivers licenses will replace physical versions. This is a great initiative, despite what the doomsayers and pearl clutchers say
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: and if you’re abroad and lose your wallet now?
Deartháir mór is watching…
New hack
It is amusing that people are raging about data and digital trackers yet they are most likely on a mobile phone which not only gives away data with your consent but also tracks you too. What triggered you lot was the word ‘government’. You saw that word and never took the time to engage your brain before commenting.
@Sun Rise:
Bullseye.
Although nowadays you have to wonder how many comments are from computers triggered by certain words.
Kindly feck off with your digital tracker.
Just put it all on a chip and implant it into our wrists… Problem solved… ??
@Blue Moon: Right up until the accident that takes your arm off or it gets fried in an MRI scanner.
Bad idea
It is a digital vaccine
Whoahere
Brilliant, another soft target for cyber attacks.
As an IT person, give me the contract. The technology is already here, so I will just use it and charge a fortune. Nice.
@did you every wonder: Fine but you sign up for liability for all future cyber attacks.
Still want the job?
How about starting slowly and getting the leap card sorted so it can be used on your phone. Baby steps !!
Anybody who listens to Ossian Smyth needs there head screwing back on.
Tracking whole life is coming not fair on few people that dont do online
have your say