On Wednesday, the Baltimore Sun had an article called “Telecommuting to Extremes“. Apparently, telecommuting has become so commonplace that people are trying to find ways to make it sound exciting again.
Of course, what they call “extreme telecommuting” I call “work”. According to the Sun, telecommuting becomes extreme when the teleworker is in a different state than the company for which they telecommute.
Frankly I don’t think the distinction is that important. I also find it a little funny that they would use the hip young term extreme to describe something they go on to say isn’t really embraced by the younger set. One point they make in the article is that younger workers often benefit from being in the workplace because it helps them strengthen their career path.
I don’t think age has as much to do with being a successful telecommuter as maturity, discipline, and need for regular human contact, but if you are going to generalize I guess it makes sense to say that older folks have more of those qualities than younger ones. I am 33 so I’m not sure in which group people would plunk me.
So maybe it’s just a slow news day. The rest of the article goes on to make all the important points about the pros and cons of telecommuting.
(editor’s note: the Baltimore Sun’s online version of the story has been renamed “Telecommuting Long Distances Works.”)