Environ Mental?

Here at DotLoop, we talk a lot about the environment. We pride ourselves on being a company that values not only sound business policy, but sound responsibility, too. Ridding the real estate industry of millions of wasted sheets of paper not only makes sense, it helps our planet, too.

But environment can mean more than just green trees and blue manatees. Indeed, the word "environment" comes from the French word environs meaning "compass or circuit", or "around". So, environment means what's around you. It really wasn't until 1956 that it was used in a strictly ecological sense.

The Chain Gang

So, think about environment in broader sense: think of your physical environment, your social environment, even your work environment and think about how they are all interrelated.

• Physical Environment
  
  When people think of their environment, the most common thing that comes to mind is where they are physically. Someone who has a home in the city has a much different environment than someone who has a home in the country (Town Mouse, Country Mouse, anyone?). Depending on what you enjoy more (sidewalk cafes vs. fishing on Tuesdays), you can choose the concrete jungle or the prairie dog jungle.
  

• Social Environment
  
  So, you know where you want to live. Now, how does that affect who you interact with? Well, depending on what kind of "mouse" you are, you'll most likely interact with very different people. It’s as doubtful that city slicker's friends would know the best way to fix a tractor as a country native’s friends would know the best spot to grab an organic cappuccino.
  

• Work Environment
  
  So, you have your country house and you’re best friend is Will, the owner of the local John Deere tractor shop down the road. But your dream job is to design custom manhole covers and crosswalk signs? Where you work also affects who you have in your social circle, so you may want to avoid a job at a steak house if you only want to associate with vegetarians. And, if you do want to work in the city, a country home may not be feasible, unless you enjoy two hour commutes.

Un-LinkedIn

So, obviously, physical, social, and work environments are all inter-related. Who you interact with, where you live, and where you work with are all linked together in a pretty stringent relationship.

But throw in a new technology, and everything gets twisted up. The advent of the Internet has drastically changed our everyday lives and has completely shaken up how we view where we live, how we work, and who we share our lives with. The Internet has broken the chains that bounded us to our environments.

• Physical Environment
  
  The Internet has broken so many barriers that some could argue that physical space itself has become obsolete. E-mail has forced the US Postal Service to scale back its offices and e-commerce has helped make Black Friday less important than Cyber Monday. So, when you can talk to someone across the world in real time without paying long distance or even send them a PDF in a second, what exactly does long distance mean anymore?
  

• Social Environment
  
  And what about talking with someone across the world? With the Internet, it's now possible for someone living in the middle of nowhere to have a relationship with anyone in the world. Online dating has created millions of marriages and the dissolving of distance has afforded everything from more peaceful dialogue and to the rise of microcapital. The Internet has truly fostered a global community.
  

• Work Environment
  
  Any newspaper editor can attest to the changes brought on by the Internet. Not only has traditional media been given a run for its money, the traditional workspace has drastically changed now. The rise of social media has created jobs out of Tweeting and, with the advent of the Great Recession, more and more cubicles are being torn down, allowing employees to work from home in their pajamas.

One Big Happy - Putting It All Together

Shameless plug time now: DotLoop understands not only the inter-connectivity of our lives, but how the Internet has made our ability to live, communicate, and work so much more seamless and easy. Our ultimate goal is to make the lives of agents and clients alike easier and to help navigate in this modern world. We've decided that the future is in online collaboration, not chicken-scratched, over-faxed forms initialed on the trunk of a car.

The rise of the Internet has not only revolutionized the way we live, work, and communicate, but has made us take a closer look at our environment--and made us question not only its limitations, but its very definition.

So, next time you think about what's around you--take a closer look. There may be a lot more than meets the eye.

dotloop.com