TOOTRiS Child Care Provider: Thinking Outside The Technology Box

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We are collectively talking more about technology, and the multiple ways technology helps us spend more time working from home and searching for ways to connect with others while social distancing. Many businesses and individuals have been thinking in terms of streaming software or virtual meetings. While this might be the technology that is in the spotlight at this moment, there are many other ways that technology can serve us in the historic moment. We need to think outside the technological box if we want to create the best outcomes we can.

Creating Side Hustles:

Many individuals are facing a reduction in hours and layoffs in response to COVID. There is a growing push to find ways to monetize activities that we already do in our day to day lives to bring in extra financial security. For parents and other child caregivers, this might look like becoming a TOOTRiS child care provider and using the site’s resources to market and manage their programs. For others, technology can connect them to individuals and organizations that want or need your services or products through marketing. For many in the creative fields, this might look like putting up a paywall or adding a donate now button to their virtual projects and finding ways to pay for artistic labor. These activities are raising money both for individuals and often for charities too.

Connecting With Services:

Right now, individuals are using technology to find safe ways to receive and perform services. Some organizations are using technology to limit the number of people waiting in waiting rooms. Some are using technology to create hands-free environments through drive-up services and mail only services. Some organizations focus on the needs of parents, such as TOOTRiS.com, which helps find on-demand bookings based on characteristics such as drop-in, after hour care, location, and safety measures. Others are using technology to help connect individuals with big data and assist those individuals in using that data to make decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. There are services that people know they need and services they have not thought of before, but no matter the type, technology can play a role in connecting services and people.

Providing Care:

There has been a marked growth in telehealth to provide physical and mental health services. This use of technology is especially important for communities where access to health care is limited because of economics or geographical distance. Sadly in many parts of the country, there are no health care facilities within a local community, and those in need of help need to travel long distances. The great news is telehealthcare expansion is likely to continue well past the end of our struggles with COVID this year. Technology is also providing access to care for demographics who might otherwise be much more limited, such as youth. There has been a marked increase in the number of hotlines and chats that youth can connect to by phone, text, or computer when they are working through mental health or other personal challenges.

Monitoring Behavior:

While technology gets used by individuals, it also has the power to be used in response to broader societal challenges. Monitoring systems are making city wastewater systems more effective. Technology gets used to analyze traffic patterns and detect a wide range of different types of dangerous driving behavior. Technology is even used to do contact tracing during the pandemic.

Right now, the focus is on how technology can help us work harder and more effectively. But this is not the limit of technology. It can be used in all areas of our lives, from financial security to health and wellness. If we are going to meet the technology challenges of tomorrow, we are going to have to think outside the box.