HomeLifestyleHome & Garden

How The Internet Is Streamlining How We Live

BY READERS DIGEST

6th Mar 2020 Home & Garden

How The Internet Is Streamlining How We Live

It’s safe to say that in the 2020s, convenience is king. Smartphones have placed the whole world, quite literally, at our fingertips. And as 5G and The Internet of Things (IoT) become more common we’re better connected than ever in the home, in the workplace and wherever we go.

The internet has become such a ubiquitous presence in our lives that we may well wonder how we lived without it. It has wrought irrevocable changes in the way we live, work and communicate. It has enabled us to usher in an age of both excess and efficiency.

Let’s look at some of the ways in which the internet is streamlining how we live, wherever we go...

It gives us instant access to our media

High quality broadband is faster and more affordable than ever. We live in an era where it’s possible to get great deals even on 1Gb broadband. Faster and more reliable internet access has given us unfettered access to a wealth of digital media.

Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon video give us access to more video than we can shake a remote control at. No longer do we need to fumble with DVD cases, and the days in which we needed to rewind VHS tapes after watching are now a distant memory.

What’s more, services like Spotify and Apple Music give us access to extraordinarily comprehensive music libraries instantly, wherever we are.

Remote working enables us to beat the commute

No longer need we spend hours seething in rush hour traffic with a piece of cold toast clenched between our teeth. In this digitally interconnected age, the world is your office. 

Recent years have seen a huge rise in freelance and remote working, with 50% of the UK’s workforce projected to work remotely in the near future according to the data from the Office of National Statistics.

What will you do with all that saved time?

Smart fridges are starting to do our shopping for us

The internet isn’t just giving us better access to our entertainment. It’s also saving us the hassle of grocery shopping! Although online supermarkets are nothing new, the rise of internet-enabled smart fridges means that we don’t even need to log into an online account to stock up on essentials.

The fridge actually orders new products for you on your behalf when you’re starting to run low. 

Smart meters allow us to pull the plug on energy waste

It’s not just time efficiency that’s streamlining how we live in the digital age. We can also make significant cost savings. The advent of the smart meter has allowed us to take control of our energy usage, driving down bills while reducing the home’s carbon footprint.

By increasing our time efficiency and eliminating waste, the internet continues to streamline our lifestyle, ushering in an age of unparalleled convenience. With such a wealth of innovation moving at such an incredible pace, who knows what else the coming decade has in store for us?

Keep up with the top stories from Reader’s Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.