But I fear there will be many casualties in the social change I am describing. The darkest side of the modern world seems to be that it has provided new and special kinds of hiding places for the alone, the isolated, and the depressed. Telecommuting, not to mention the rise of e-commerce on the Internet, may serve to magnify this problem manyfold, as human contact is minimized and near total isolation becomes a real option rather than an oddity. And there are other long-term effects to consider. But the more isolated work is from other parts of one's social world, the more business ethics suffer.
Anonymity can lead people to believe they can get away with the shoddiest behavior.
I've never even met him. As Americans migrate further from a central workplace, the erosion of our relationships with colleagues as well as with customers, suppliers, and competitors is inevitable, another unintended consequence of telecommuting, not to be welcomed with open arms. Of course, not all of the predictions here must be negative. Telecommuting may be the first social transformation in centuries that pulls working fathers and mothers back into the home rather than pushing them out for longer and longer periods of time. As such, it has the possibility to strengthen the nuclear family.