Meeting Digitalization at Eye Level

Everything comes alive online. We do not ‘go’ online anymore, we are online - All of us! While it was a cerebral game so far; a mental and intellectual peak into disruption and "What If" scenarios, it has now become a must to work with digital technology. Setting up a quick Zoom meeting has become routine and time is better spent in typing up a quick WhatsApp or Skype message as compared to writing an email. Thank you COVID-19!

Earlier, one still considered whether the disposal of the fax machine was already the first step to digital transformation, it is no longer a question - one sits at home, quarantined, may not go out, may not meet people and certainly not travel, and restricted to purely communicating online. Not to forget, work and business as usual - only this time, it is online. In the initial shock of adaptation and the accompanied steep learning curve - WE CAN suddenly, because we HAVE TO. It is necessary to adjust to the new circumstances as quickly as possible. Now we have set up and organized ourselves to some extent and are slowly moving on to the next level of awareness: We realize that through the pandemic, an accelerator of fire has been thrown into the mix - Digital Transformation. That we will probably continue to do "work from home" for a long time to come, at least from time to time. That we will probably look into digital screens for a long time or maybe even forever, to communicate and collaborate. That we will never again unlearn what it means to go home and use services which are available 24/7.

The Internet, streaming services, communication tools, apps and features for all kinds of purposes and needs are available. Around the clock. What does that do to us? With our sense of leisure? When is it free time, when you always have free time, but actually never is more free, because you are always available. Thanks to your smartphone, tablet, laptop and WLAN! What happens to our work-life balance? A term that is always sounds like a bit of a "first world pain", since it is often used by well-paid employees of modern large corporations, who eat super foods for free during their lunch break - and had in-house "Mindfulness" courses paid by their employers. Work and life are not in balance because they are inseparably interwoven. Sunday as a strict rest day, both in terms of consumption and work, has long since ceased to be a taboo. Because working on the weekend is not restricted to only self-employed people, start-ups or advertising agencies. Digital does not sleep and there are no opening hours on the Internet - shopping on Sundays? No problem! At midnight, quickly video conference with Asia to discuss the next plans on projects - sounds quite normal. In short: how much will we benefit from the extremely accelerated digital transformation into a new hamster wheel, which spins even faster and no more exits are allowed?

The "end of work" as a synonym for work-free time - when should it be? In the evening? More likely, don't you think? And what is there to celebrate? 9 to 5 and then "end of work" - you can almost hear the "New Worker" laughing. 24/7 availability may be sexy for generation Y or Z, even more so if coupled with a cool Brand or a start-up with appeal. But be ready around the clock in the long run, minus "closing times". and clearly defined leisure time... It is therefore necessary to find new structures, new rituals - also for differentiation. Clearly defined "Opening hours", consulting hours and working hours. Maybe the "old school" 9 to 5 with a reliable end of the day? One day a week when we are completely offline? Digital Detox after (too) much digital transformation? One thing is certain, digital is the new normal. That will not go away. But there are other implications on all areas: labor law, society and social affairs, health and psyche, and much more. We will have to act accordingly and find regulations - individual and systemic. Otherwise the system will chew us up and we will be like zombies or aliens: alienated from the tangible, real, physical world, without rituals and reference, without borders permanently accessible. Until complete exhaustion or resolution in 0 | 1. 

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