It's a dystopia all right, but one that is already very real. WFH is a reality for many, groceries to the door hasn't become mainstream yet but the supermarket might well be on the trajectory taken by book stores two decades earlier and people who don't attend outdoor or team sports can have surprisingly few occasions to leave home unless they go out of their way to find an excuse.
Just because I can order everything I need for home with a couple of taps (which I can, BTW), work from home time to time, and can cook and clean by myself doesn't mean that I don't need to leave home.
Taking a long tour along the neighborhood, to see what I want to buy first hand before pulling the trigger, or seeing an old friend and getting a nice coffee at that café are all valid reasons to go out.
Getting fresh air, regularly walking, seeing a couple of different and unknown faces are regular maintenance tasks for the body and brain.
I don't think humans should hole up at their homes and work/doom scroll/eat/doom scroll/sleep/repeat just because they can. That's unhealthy for every aspect of your body and life to begin with.
That's why I called it a dystopia. After a year of working fully remote I now have the option of walking to an office and I haven't skipped on that a single day. The WFH had its benefits, but all in all it felt like COVID lockdown going into overtime. As in enjoying those few seconds of interaction at the supermarket checkout.
Although this is your reality most of thr time, people need to go out with family/friends, from time to time. So when they disappear where people are going to go?
I'm in this dystopia: WFH, delivery groceries, delivery meals when I'm feeling lazy. If I didn't have a dog, I'd probably only leave my house on the weekend.
IMO it's not so bad. I don't miss grocery shopping. I do miss walking to work up Powell St.
I do know my neighbors though, and talk to them on a pretty regular basis. I don't like sports especially, but I also do have some recreational hobbies that get me outside.
That's more or less my life, except that I don't live somewhere walkable, and do still buy groceries in person (although I will, especially when my mobility/fatigue/general health issues acting up, use their curbside service), but that store is a 2 minute drive from my house. As I mentioned, I have medical issues that are currently rather sucky and limiting, and being chronic, largely irreversible conditions, well, they aren't gonna get better. Maybe with stem cells one day... Anyway, point being that these sort of services (which, in my case, can also be stuff like... buying the pre-cut fruit rather than whole) can be a pretty big deal for the disabled.
