The widespread of the Internet gives people more freedom to work and study at home instead of traveling to office and school. Do the advantages outweigh disadvantages?

Commuting to work or school is one of the major causes of pollution and unproductive

time

. In order to tackle

this

, as it allows for remote work, the Internet has become a great ally.

Nevertheless

, in spite of the obvious advantages, there is a lot to be concerned about the consequences of less socialization that follows. Humans are gregarious beings by nature, so the impeded personal contact with others is a readily noticeable disadvantage of studying or working at home. Still, it is possible to argue that students and workers could socialize with family and people living nearby.

This

is indeed a possibility since there are community centres and other facilities where they might meet.

However

, schoolchildren and young students do not have their social cognition domain fully developed, and

hence

the more pairs they relate the better

this

cognitive domain will work.

By contrast

, if they stay home, school kids will certainly grow up with a disability.

This

affirmation has been extensively researched by psychologists worldwide and is

therefore

the main reason why kids should go to school.

On the other hand

, late teens and young adults already have their social cognition domain developed,

thus

, in

this

case, there are great advantages to studying or working remotely.

Besides

decreasing pollution and increasing productive

time

, there is

also

the benefit of more

time

spent with family. In fact, being away from relatives is among the most common causes of depression nowadays.

Hence

, if commuting was no longer needed, people would feel happier with more precious

time

spent with loved ones. In conclusion, on balance, I am inclined to believe that the widespread use of the internet, as it frees people from commuting, outweighs its intrinsic cons as less socialization.

Nonetheless

, in the case of schoolchildren, the benefits are outweighed because

this

age group is still developing essential skills related to social cognition.