As I put the final touches on a rough draft, my eyes can’t help but wander toward the city view just outside the floor to ceiling windows of my top floor office. I watch cars pass on a distant bridge, building lights flicker, and the sun reflect off of neighboring skyscrapers. The Popular Mechanics logo, a collage featuring covers of some of our print issues over the past 120 years, and our latest cover page line the walls. After a productive workday, I slowly nod off to a Lo-Fi Spotify playlist as the clock on my computer hits 6 p.m.
My vision fades to black and a tri-tone beep rings. No, I’m not asleep just yet, but my virtual reality Oculus 2 headset is due to its limited battery life. As I slowly remove the goggles, I’m greeted by the sight of my fiancée sitting across our tiny kitchen table from me, eating dinner as she types away at her laptop. The real world is a bleak and cramped contrast to my spacious digital office. I had been toiling away in Meta’s Workrooms app, which provided that private, distraction-free retreat for my most productive work. Beyond creating an isolated workspace, it’s part of the overarching Metaverse, in which coworkers can join each other “in-person” over the internet. While I’ve been experimenting in it for the past year, my teammates and I all got together recently to collaborate for the first time. And they each have differing opinions on its potential after experiencing it for themselves.
Pre-pandemic, I would spend 90 minutes aboard a train and an additional 15 minutes driving in traffic after the workday ended. Now it’s a different story. With employers forced forced to adopt remote work to get by, apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom have become increasingly more useful. My commute now, to call it that, consists of me rolling out of bed and walking to my desk at home. This necessitated reliance on video and audio calls and meetings has spurred a mass change and wider acceptance of remote work. According to Pew Research, 59 percent of all employees that can perform their job responsibilities online work primarily from home these days.
