ONLINE SHOPPING
Shopping online is just like heading out to the store. You can often buy the same products online as available in a brick-and-mortar store and can sometimes score better sales.

Finding a Product
When you shop online, you have to start by searching for a product. This can be done by visiting a store’s website, or if you are not aware of any store that has the particular item you are looking for, or you’d like to compare prices between stores, you can always search for the items with a search engine and compare the results.

On major retail websites, companies will have pictures, descriptions, and prices. If a company or individual does not have the means to create a website, some sites like Amazon and Etsy make it possible for them to display products or build their own online stores for a monthly fee.

Other websites like eBay provide an auction format in which sellers can display items for a minimum price, and buyers can bid on these items until the listing ends or the seller chooses to award it to a buyer. Most stores also have placed virtual customer service centers on their websites, so you can either call, email, or chat with a live customer service representative if you have questions.

Buying and Receiving the Product
After selecting a product, the webpage usually has a “checkout” option. When you check out, you are often given a list of shipping and payment options. Shipping options include standard, expedited, and/or overnight shipping. Depending on the shipping company and your location, standard shipping usually takes seven to 21 business days, and expedited shipping can take anywhere from two to six business days.

There are typically various payment options available:

E-Check
This payment option is just like paying directly from your bank account. If you choose to pay by electronic check, you must enter your routing and account numbers. Once this is done, the amount is taken directly from your bank account.

Credit Card
When you pay by credit card, instead of swiping your card as you would at a brick-and-mortar store, you type the required credit card information into the provided fields. Required information includes your credit card number, expiration date, type of card (Visa, MasterCard, etc.), and verification/security number, usually the last three digits on the

back of the card above the signature.

Payment Vendors
Payment vendors or payment processing companies, such as PayPal, are e-commerce businesses that provide payment exchange services. They allow people to transfer money to one another without sharing financial information safely. Before you purchase through a payment vendor, you’ll need to set up an account first to verify your credit card and/or financial institution information.

Advantages of Online Trading
There are a lot of benefits gained from buying and selling online. These include:

Convenience: It is very convenient to shop from where you are located.
Cost Savings: With ever-increasing gas prices, shopping online saves you the cost of driving to stores, as well as parking fees. You will also save time by avoiding standing in line, particularly around the holidays, when stores are busy and packed with customers.
Variety: The Internet provides sellers with unlimited shelf space, so they are more likely to offer a wider variety of products than they would in brick-and-mortar stores.
No Pressure: No salesperson is hovering around and pressuring you to purchase in a virtual or online store.
Easy Comparison: Shopping online eliminates the need to wander from store to store comparing prices.
Disadvantages of Online Trading
There are also disadvantages to buying and selling online. These include:

Increased Risk of Identity Theft
When paying for your goods online, it can be straightforward for someone to intercept sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, home address, phone, and other account numbers.

Vendor Fraud
If the vendor/seller is fraudulent, they might accept your payment and either refuse to send you your item or send you the wrong or a defective product. Trying to rectify an incorrect order with a vendor through the Internet can be a hassle.

U.S. consumers can report fraud, abuse, and incidents of identity theft with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Protecting Yourself While Shopping Online
Overall, the advantages of shopping online outweigh the disadvantages. That said, it is important to note that while they might be smaller in number, the disadvantages can be a major hardship.

While shopping online, it is essential to protect yourself and your information. Here are some tips that can help you take care of yourself:

Invest in Technology
It is a great idea to install antivirus and anti-phishing programs on your computer. An antivirus program will protect your computer from viruses. An anti-phishing program will attempt to protect you via cybersecurity from illegitimate sites that are designed to look like legitimate sites but actually collect your personal information for illegal activities.

Be Careful
Vendors do not have the right to ask for certain information. If a website requests your Social Security number, it is probably a scam. You will need to research the company requesting the information or exit that site as quickly as possible.

Research
If you are searching for an item using search engines, and you encounter a store or a website you have not heard about, make sure you check the bottom of the pages for an SSL logo.

SSL is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. To be able to create an SSL connection, a web server requires an SSL certificate.

Shipping Check
Always read shipping policies posted on the seller’s website or beneath the product listing. Some sellers allow you to return an item within a specific period of time, while other vendors never accept returns.

The Bottom Line
Buying and selling online can be very convenient and rewarding, but you always have to protect yourself. If a deal looks too good to be true, it usually is. If you don’t feel 100% secure on a particular site, leave it, and find something else. Also, make sure that your computer is well protected before you begin any transaction that involves sensitive information. Many scams on the Internet can negatively affect your credit score and cost you money, so be proactive in your research to get the most out of shopping online.

SAVE TREES AND NATURE
From childhood, we have heard that trees are our best friend but in practical life, we didn’t see anyone who treats trees as their friends. Although they are the most valuable life source on the earth. They benefit every life form in a direct or indirect way. And the earth is connected to them to maintain a natural balance. In this essay on save trees, we are discussing the reason why our friends need saving.

They nourish us and protect us in many ways. Also, they keep our environment green and clean. So, it becomes our responsibility to repay them for the things they do for us by saving them. Besides, large trees are more beneficial than small ones because they capture more carbon, capture more water, combat the heat, filter greenhouse gases, gives shelter from heat and sunlight, etc. So, it can be said that we depend on them more rather than they on us.

essays on save trees
Advantages and Importance of Trees
As we have discussed the benefits of trees in short but here we are going to discuss them in detail. Plants and Trees fight the climatic changes that are destroying the earth. They also filter the air that we breathe and absorb all the harmful chemical gases and odors from the environment. Also, they take in the harmful carbon dioxide and gives out oxygen.

They are good for the diversity of flora and fauna. They give us food, shelter and many more things that we can’t count. Besides, they never demand anything from us and also prevent soil erosion, water evaporation. Above all, they control and manage the effects of wind, sun and, rain.

How to Save Trees?
The human has become aware and serious about this issue and started doing the best they can do to save trees. The forest departments and government have banned the illegal cutting of trees. And they are going digital so that they can save paper which will reduce the number of trees cut down for making paper.

Apart from that, the forest area after cutting of trees should be replanted with new ones. Also, we should teach our children to plant trees and ask them to pass it on their friends and acquaintances.

The least that we can do is to plant some pots in our home rooftops or garden and ask our neighbor to do the same. Also, if we see the removal of a tree then we should inform the local authority about it to create awareness. Above all, strict laws should be made for people who illegally or without permission cut these trees for their own benefits.

The various life form is able to survive on earth due to plants. If we remove plants from the earth even for one day then the survival of man will become difficult.

Besides, they are the source of water and fresh oxygen on earth. Cutting trees means destroying life on earth. So, the time has come that we to be responsible for the action we have done till now. And start finding ways to save this Green Gold.

DOCTORS IN PENDAMIC
CURRENT SITUATION
Doctors and healthcare workers who are responding to a global health crisis—trying to protect individuals, families and communities in adverse situations with stretched resources, shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment’s—have found themselves as unexpected targets in the fight against COVID-19. There have been several reported incidences of such violence against them during this pandemic time in India. Although the exact numbers of such cases cannot be determined, there are a few glaring examples: on 8 April 2020, two trainee doctors in New Delhi were allegedly assaulted by a neighbour who accused them of spreading the disease. On19 April 2020, the burial of a neurosurgeon who had died after contracting COVID-19 in Chennai was disrupted by a mob who attacked the undertakers. The citizens’ opposition was due to a misconception that the contagion may spread in the neighbourhood if the surgeon was buried there. A group of public health workers in Indore, a city in central India, who were trying to ‘contact-trace’ a person, were descended upon by a group of 100 people pelting stones and drove them away. Increasingly, reports pour in of doctors being spat on, hurled abuses at and driven away.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE DOCTORS AND HEALTHCARE WORKERS
The reasons for violence against healthcare workers may vary from fear, anxiety, panic, misinformation (as to how the SARS CoV-2 virus outbreak may spread and affect individuals), mistrust and misplaced quotes in the social-media.11 Government hospitals in India are inundated in such public health crisis with lack of adequate facilities, equipment and infrastructure are other quoted reasons. The private hospital sectors have largely shut down to non-emergency admissions, and people find it difficult to access medical aid. Aggressive emotional response of relatives may sometimes boil over with frustration exhibited in the form of damage to the healthcare facilities and verbal or physical violence against the healthcare personnel. The situation is being made more difficult as health units and professionals in some government hospitals highlight shortage of PPE but do receive hostile response from hostile hospital administration. Health professionals are recognised as ‘newer untouchables’. People are panicked about catching COVID-19 from medical workers or being stigmatised for having contracted it themselves.

STRATEGIES TO COMBAT VIOLENCE
Better communication
A better and timely communication with the aggrieved patients and their family members is the key to avoid violence and untoward incidences. Due to shortage of time and to maintain social distancing norms, often the verbal and direct communication between doctors and patients is lacking during this pandemic. It leaves the patient and the family ‘in the dark’ and unsatisfied. The hospitals should designate some social workers and counsellors to coordinate with them on a regular basis to allay any fears.

Role of media
Social media including both the printed and the digital media has a significant role in the spread of information in India and are known to sensationalise stories about medical negligence and malpractice. The widespread news coverage about COVID-19 has heightened anxiety and fear among the Indian public. Social media platforms can play a positive role in the current pandemic collaborating with Government agencies to provide an effective information campaign to educate the public about the diagnosis, spread, containment and prevention strategies against COVID-19 transmission. The uptake of ‘Aarogya Setu’—Indian government’s COVID-19 contact tracing application—can be promoted by smart phone technology companies and web providers to minimise the spread of COVID-19, thus help to safely reduce lockdown measures. This will help prevent a ‘second wave’ of viral outbreak in the future.

Self-defence
Violence against doctors is underreported in India, perhaps because the doctors fear for their personal safety and harassment from public, administration and law enforcement system. Recently, doctors and government institutions have started to take steps to protect themselves against violence. Marshalls have been posted at large central government hospitals in Delhi in their accident and emergency department. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, has started self-defence training among doctors for protection. At places, doctors have had to evaluate patients from a distance to avoid assault and this hampers history taking and examination of the patient properly.

Government strategy
Concerned with the rising violence against the doctors and healthcare workers, the Indian government has recently issued an ordinance that makes violence against healthcare workers a non-bailable offence, punishable by up to 7 years imprisonment. The Ordinance—an amendment of India’s age-old Epidemic Diseases Act 1897— seeks to protect doctors, nurses, and paramedic and community health workers from harassment or physical injury, which has been introduced following an upsurge of violence against healthcare workers since the start of COVID-19 pandemic. It has been welcomed by all quarters to rein in violence and punish the wrongdoers. It is expected to be a deterrent, if applied and executed strictly. However, currently, it is an amendment of the epidemic act and it is unclear how the regulation will be applied once the pandemic has resolved. Recently, to give support and respect to emergency workers like doctors and paramedics during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has urged people to clap or ring any musical instrument on a designated day and time. This has improved the respect of healthcare workers and corona warriors to some extent.

Role of telemedicine
Telehealth has been a game changer and one of the positives that has emerged out of this COVID-19 pandemic and will be an integral part of healthcare in the post-COVID-19 era. Use of telehealth will reduce the face-to-face contact of patient and thus may reduce the physical assault to the doctors to some extent. The thought of recording of the telemedicine services may force the patients and their caregivers to behave properly and thus prevent verbal abuse and threats.

Role of education and better primary healthcare
Education of the masses and better access to primary healthcare services is vital to reduce violence against doctors and healthcare workers. Time has to identify effective ways and means to improve and strengthen public health education and practice. This is necessary not only to educate the population about the importance of prevention of infection, hand hygiene in preventing communicable diseases prevalent in India but also the importance of various healthcare workers in delivering healthcare programmes. Doctors and healthcare workers need to be supported in carrying out their fight against global health crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic, understand their limitations due to lack of resources and thus minimise incidents of violence. Establishment of better primary healthcare facilities such as Delhi’s Mohalla (community) and Mumbai’s Swasth (health) clinics is one of the right ways forward to access local healthcare.

CONCLUSION
COVID-19 health crisis has exacerbated violence against doctors and healthcare workers. They have become unforeseen targets in the fight against the current pandemic. For a sustainable protection of the healthcare workers, the current Ordinance needs to be further extended and incorporated into existing laws in the form of a strict, permanent legislation that is strictly enforced. It would improve the safety of the very individuals who carry out their duties fearlessly for the benefit of sick patients, either during a health crisis such as the current pandemic or during traditional times.

The economy of India is characterised as a middle income developing market economy. It is the world’s sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on a per capita income basis, India ranked 145th by GDP (nominal) and 122th by GDP (PPP). From independence in 1947 until 1991, successive governments promoted protectionist economic policies with extensive state intervention and economic regulation, which is characterised as dirigism, in the form of the License Raj. The end of the Cold War and an acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 led to the adoption of a broad economic liberalisation in India. Since the start of the 21st century, annual average GDP growth has been 6% to 7%, and from 2013 to 2018, India was the world’s fastest growing major economy, surpassing China. Historically, India was the largest economy in the world for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century.

The long-term growth perspective of the Indian economy remains positive due to its young population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings, and investment rates, increasing globalisation in India and integration into the global economy. The economy slowed in 2017, due to shocks of “demonetisation” in 2016 and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2017. Nearly 60% of India’s GDP is driven by domestic private consumption and continues to remain the world’s sixth-largest consumer market. Apart from private consumption, India’s GDP is also fueled by government spending, investment, and exports. In 2019, India was the world’s ninth-largest importer and the twelfth-largest exporter. India has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995. It ranks 63rd on the Ease of doing business index and 68th on the Global Competitiveness Report. With 500 million workers, the Indian labour force is the world’s second-largest as of 2019. India has one of the world’s highest number of billionaires and extreme income inequality. Since India has a vast informal economy, barely 2% of Indians pay income taxes. During the 2008 global financial crisis the economy faced a mild slowdown, India undertook stimulus measures (both fiscal and monetary) to boost growth and generate demand; in subsequent years economic growth revived. According to the 2017 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India’s GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2050. According to World Bank, to achieve sustainable economic development India must focus on public sector reform, infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of land and labour regulations, financial inclusion, spur private investment and exports, education, and public health.

In 2020, India’s ten largest trading partners were the United States, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, and Malaysia. In 2019–20, the foreign direct investment (FDI) in India was $74.4 billion with the service sector, computer, and telecom industry remains leading sectors for FDI inflows. India has free trade agreements with several nations, including ASEAN, SAFTA, Mercosur, South Korea, Japan, and several others which are in effect or under negotiating stage. The service sector makes up 50% of GDP and remains the fastest growing sector, while the industrial sector and the agricultural sector employs a majority of the labor force. The Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange are some of the world’s largest stock exchanges by market capitalization. India is the world’s sixth-largest manufacturer, representing 3% of global manufacturing output, and employs over 57 million people. Nearly 66% of India’s population is rural, and contributes about 50% of India’s GDP. It has the world’s fourth-largest foreign-exchange reserves worth $585 billion. India has a high public debt with 89% of GDP, while its fiscal deficit stood at 9.5% of GDP India’s government-owned banks faced mounting bad debt, resulting in low credit growth, simultaneously the NBFC sector has been engulfed in a liquidity crisis. India faces moderate unemployment, rising income inequality, and a drop in aggregate demand. India’s gross domestic savings rate stood at 30.1% of GDP in FY 2019. In recent years, independent economists and financial institutions have accused the government of fudging various economic data, especially GDP growth.

India is the world’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs, and its pharmaceutical sector fulfills over 50% of the global demand for vaccines. The Indian IT industry is a major exporter of IT services with $191 billion in revenue and employs over four million people. India’s chemical industry is extremely diversified and estimated at $178 billion. The tourism industry contributes about 9.2% of India’s GDP and employs over 42 million. India ranks second globally in food and agricultural production, while agricultural exports were $35.09 billion. The construction and real estate sector ranks third among the 14 major sectors in terms of direct, indirect, and induced effects in all sectors of the economy. The Indian textiles industry is estimated at $100 billion and contributes 13% of industrial output and 2.3% of India’s GDP while employs over 45 million people directly. India’s telecommunication industry is the world’s second largest by the number of mobile phone, smartphone, and internet users. It is the world’s 25th-largest oil producer and the third-largest oil consumer. The Indian automobile industry is the world’s fifth-largest by production. It has $1.17 trillion worth of retail market which contributes over 10% of India’s GDP and has one of the world’s fastest growing e-commerce markets. India has the world’s fourth-largest natural resources, with the mining sector contributing 11% of the country’s industrial GDP and 2.5% of total GDP. It is also the world’s second-largest coal producer, the second-largest cement producer, the second-largest steel producer, and the third-largest electricity producer.

The legacy of Sukapha, founder of Ahom kingdom Political commentator Garga Chatterjee faces arrest for remarks about the Ahom ruler. A look at the kingdom he founded, and the role of the Ahoms in establishing the concept of greater Assam.

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Sukapha was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries.

On Friday, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal ordered the arrest of a Kolkata-based political commentator, Garga Chatterjee, who had described Chaolung Sukapha as a “Chinese invader”.

Who was Chaolung Sukapha?

Sukapha was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries. Contemporary scholars trace his roots to Burma.

“Sukapha was a leader of the Ahoms. He reached Brahmaputra valley in Assam from upper Burma in the 13th century with around 9,000 followers,” said Arup Kumar Dutta, author of the book The Ahoms.

In his authoritative book on Assam history — A History of Assam, Sir Edward Gait wrote that Sukapha is said to have left a place called Maulung in AD 1215 with eight nobles and 9,000 men, women and children — mostly men. He had with him two elephants, and 300 horses. Gait wrote that In 1235, Sukapha and his people settled in Charaideo in upper Assam after wandering about for years, defeating those who protested his advance, and temporarily staying at different locations.

It was in Charaideo that Sukapha established his first small principality, sowing the seeds of further expansion of the Ahom kingdom.

Who are the Ahoms today?

The founders of the Ahom kingdom had their own language and followed their own religion. Over the centuries, the Ahoms accepted the Hindu religion and the Assamese language, scholars say.

“The Ahoms embraced the language, religion and rituals of the communities living here — they did not impose theirs on those living here,” said Dutta.

As written by Gait, most of those who came with Sukapha were men. Dutta said the men later married women from communities living in Assam. Today, the Ahom community is estimated to number between 4 million and 5 million.

He said Sukapha developed very amiable relationships with the tribal communities living here — especially the Sutias, the Morans and the Kacharis. Intermarriage also increased assimilation processes.

Why is Sukapha important?

Sukapha’s significance — especially in today’s Assam — lies in his successful efforts towards assimilation of different communities and tribes. He is widely referred to as the architect of “Bor Asom” or “greater Assam”.

“Sukapha and his people could consolidate power, culture and religion in the region in a manner which brought a diverse mix of jati and janajatis (multiple tribes and communities) together who at different points of history offered their allegiance to the Ahom kings… For this very reason that the Ahoms managed to group a diverse mix of people in such a politically sensitive region criss-crossing South Asia and South-East Asia, the first Ahom King Sukapha is hailed as an architect of Bor (larger) Assam in popular culture,” Suraj Gogoi, a doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore, told The Indian Express.

To commemorate Sukapha and his rule, Assam celebrates “Asom Divas” on December 2 every year. Speaking on the occasion last December, Chief Minister Sonowal had said Sukapha “was the architect of greater Assamese society”. “He laid the foundation for a robust and vibrant Assam through his policy of amity, unity and harmony,” Sonowal said.

What has the political commentator said about Sukapha?

In a series of tweets, Garga Chatterjee, who describes himself as a “Bengali nationalist” on Twitter, repeatedly referred to Sukapha as a “Chinese invader” and questioned why the BJP-led state government commemorates his rule as “State Day”.

In a tweet on June 17, Chatterjee wrote: “Why does @sarbanandsonwal regularly celebrate a Chinese invader and his invading army? Why does banned separatist group ULFA also celebrate the Chinese invader? Do real Indians know that Indian tax money is being used by BJP in Assam to put up statues of a Chinese invader?”

In another tweet — whose screenshot is available but could not be accessed online — Chatterjee wrote, “There is a state in India where the ‘State Day’ is celebrated by Assam BJP to commemorate a Chinese invader who brutally attacked India with Chinese troops. This invader is considered a Hero by China-funded anti-Indian separatist group ULFA.”

What action is being taken?

Chatterjee’s tweets caused outrage in Assam. Multiple police cases were filed. On Friday, Sonowal directed the state police to arrest Chatterjee and bring him to Assam. An Assam police team has left for Kolkata.

In a press statement on Friday on him ordering Chatterjee’s arrest, Sonowal said Sukapha was the architect of the greater Assamese identity and making derogatory statements about such a great personality could not be tolerated.

“Posting of offensive remarks on social media misinterpreting historical facts could lead to rift between different communities in an ethnically diverse state like Assam,” said Sonowal, adding that the derogatory statements had “hurt the sentiments of Assamese people”.

TECHNOLOGY IN 2050

Erath 2050 Robot Protestor.

We see a picket line of robots in the city center. Their placards are plastered with slogans written in binary code. The widespread development of robots and artificial intelligence have necessitated the creation of a legal framework to protect them to regulate the rights of intelligent robots. Subsequently, this code is constantly updated and improved so robots have improving rights in our society.

Personal assistants (PAs) have rapidly developed throughout the 21st century. To begin with, they could only answer primitive questions: in 2019, voice assistants were as dumb as a box of rocks. But by 2025, they’d mastered the art of recognizing and transcribing speech (with punctuation marks too); they could understand the meaning of a text and recite it so realistically that it was almost indistinguishable from a human. This led to half of all office activities being automated: PAs began to take minutes, write post-meeting reports, summarize lengthy documents, and consciously digest and recapitulate the contents of messages. They also plan your day, schedule meetings and even order lunch.

Thanks to machine learning, PAs are fully adapted to their owners’ personalities, increasingly penetrating every aspect of their lives. It all began with assisting with office work, and by the mid-2040s, PAs had become an integral part of everyday life by monitoring their owners’ diets, planning trips abroad, buying gifts for friends and family, and more.

But it’s not as rosy as it seems: the human-PA relationship has spawned a plethora of psychological issues and communication difficulties between real people. However, a specially trained AI psychologist is on hand to help us cope. Paradoxically, it’s just another voice assistant.

The power is in your hands
Doctor’s hand

In decades past, palms and fingers were scanned for identification. Now, hands with implanted sensors become the scanners themselves. These implants come in different models with two main variations: first, a simple scanner for daily use. It helps to read different tags and product codes, and to exchange digital business cards via the handshake ritual (you can use face recognition to identify a stranger but this is considered indecent; besides, many people use protection to prevent recognition. Hats with special veils are popular). Second, sophisticated scanners for technicians and other professionals. For example, a doctor’s hand includes various medical sensors for diagnostics – even a portable endoscope with a direct video stream to the doctor’s visual cortex.

In the year 2050, technology will dominate the workplace with artificial intelligence and smart assistants being commonplace, while the use of augmented and virtual reality continues to increase. Everything will be ‘smart’ – connected and data-driven. The vast majority of us will continue working the same way we are today, but the jobs on offer will be ones that haven’t yet been invented. Emotional intelligence and ‘human’ skills such as perpetual learning will be crucial for leaders to possess, as well as fluency with the latest technologies.

Work will increasingly become more fluid as some employees will be virtual, some will be full-time, some will be bots, and we will all be working non-fixed hours. As with any kind of change, there will be pros and cons. Those who work in routine jobs are likely to struggle to make sure they can stay relevant in the new world of work. The advantage is that this will give us more time to focus on the human aspects of work such as building relationships, being creative, deep thinking, and practicing skills like empathy and self-awareness. Technology will help us make organizations more personable. This also means that we need to get more comfortable with using technology such as bots and AI in our work, a cause of tension and fear for some.

And what about working hours? It depends if you’re a knowledge worker or working in industries like retail. Flexible work arrangements are already being implemented at organizations around the world. The advantages are far-ranging, from improving employee satisfaction, productivity and tenure, to being able to attract and retain top talent. The potential disadvantages here are making sure that employees can stay accountable for delivering high-quality work while feeling like they’re a part of the team, dealing with isolation, and ensuring effective communication and collaboration. I think the pros outstrip the cons: when managed effectively, flexible work arrangements can be a huge benefit to the organization and its people.

For sure, work will become more fun and those repetitive activities in our day-to-day life will be done by robots and artificial intelligence. Knowing programming logic will be as important as English and mathematics. User experience design (UX) will be more important than other technical components of a project to ensure its success with customers. Skills in solving problems and serving customers will continue to be competitive advantages for the work of the future.

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It encompasses the biological influences, social pressures, and environmental factors that affect how people think, act, and feel.

Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help people achieve insights into their own actions as well as a better understanding of other people.

Types of Psychology
Psychology is a broad and diverse field that encompasses the study of human thought, behavior, development, personality, emotion, motivation, and more. As a result, some different subfields and specialty areas have emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and application within psychology:

Abnormal psychology is the study of abnormal behavior and psychopathology. This specialty area is focused on research and treatment of a variety of mental disorders and is linked to psychotherapy and clinical psychology.
Biological psychology (biopsychology) studies how biological processes influence the mind and behavior. This area is closely linked to neuroscience and utilizes tools such as MRI and PET scans to look at brain injury or brain abnormalities.
Clinical psychology is focused on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders.

Cognitive psychology is the study of human thought processes including attention, memory, perception, decision-making, problem-solving, and language acquisition.
Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior.
Developmental psychology is an area that looks at human growth and development over the lifespan including cognitive abilities, morality, social functioning, identity, and other life areas.
Forensic psychology is an applied field focused on using psychological research and principles in the legal and criminal justice system.
Industrial-organizational psychology is a field that uses psychological research to enhance work performance and select employees.
Personality psychology focuses on understanding how personality develops as well as the patterns of thoughts, behaviors, and characteristics that make each individual unique.
Social psychology focuses on group behavior, social influences on individual behavior, attitudes, prejudice, conformity, aggression, and related topics.
What Are the Branches of Psychology?
Uses
The most obvious application for psychology is in the field of mental health where psychologists use principles, research, and clinical findings to help clients manage and overcome symptoms of mental distress and psychological illness. Some of the additional applications for psychology include:

Developing educational programs
Ergonomics
Informing public policy
Mental health treatment
Performance enhancement
Personal health and well-being
Psychological research
Self-help
Social program design
Understanding child development
It is difficult to capture everything that psychology encompasses in just a brief definition, but topics such as development, personality, thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations, and social behaviors represent just a portion of what psychology seeks to understand, predict, and explain.

The Major Goals of Psychology

Impact of Psychology
Psychology is both an applied and academic field that benefits both individuals and society as a whole. A large part of psychology is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact of psychology.

Some of the ways that psychology contributes to individuals and society include:

Improving our understanding of why people behave as they do as well
Understanding the different factors that can impact the human mind and behavior
Understanding issues that impact health, daily life, and well-being
Improving ergonomics to improve product design
Creating safer and more efficient workspaces
Helping motivate people to achieve their goals
Improving productivity
Psychologists accomplish these things by using objective scientific methods to understand, explain, and predict human behavior. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a hypothesis that is then empirically tested.

Potential Pitfalls
There’s a lot of confusion out there about psychology. Unfortunately, such misconceptions about psychology abound in part thanks to stereotyped portrayals of psychologists in popular media as well as the diverse career paths of those holding psychology degrees.

Sure, there are psychologists who help solve crimes, and there are plenty of professionals who help people deal with mental health issues. However, there are also psychologists who:

Contribute to creating healthier workplaces
Design and implement public health programs
Research airplane safety
Help design technology and computer programs
Study military life and the psychological impact of combat
No matter where psychologists work, their primary goals are to help describe, explain, predict, and influence human behavior.

History of Psychology
Early psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Discussions of these two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers, including Aristotle and Socrates.

The word “psychology” itself is derived from the Greek word psyche, literally meaning “life” or “breath.” Derived meanings of the word include “soul” or “self.”

The emergence of psychology as a separate and independent field of study truly came about when Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Throughout psychology’s history, various schools of thought have formed to explain the human mind and behavior. In some cases, certain schools of thought rose to dominate the field of psychology for a period of time.

The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology.

Structuralism: Wundt and Titchener’s structuralism was the earliest school of thought, but others soon began to emerge.
Functionalism: The early psychologist and philosopher William James became associated with a school of thought known as functionalism, which focused its attention on the purpose of human consciousness and behavior.
Psychoanalysis: Soon, these initial schools of thought gave way to several dominant and influential approaches to psychology. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis centered on how the unconscious mind impacted human behavior.
Behaviorism: The behavioral school of thought turned away from looking at internal influences on behavior and sought to make psychology the study of observable behaviors.
Humanistic psychology: Later, the humanistic approach centered on the importance of personal growth and self-actualization.
Cognitive psychology: By the 1960s and 1970s, the cognitive revolution spurred the investigation of internal mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, language development, and memory.
While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, each perspective has contributed to our understanding of psychology.

The Origins of Psychology: History Through the Years
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As you can see, while psychology may be a relatively young science it also has a tremendous amount of both depth and breadth. The assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness are central interests of psychology, but psychology encompasses much more than mental health.

Today, psychologists seek to understand many different aspects of the human mind and behavior, adding new knowledge to our understanding of how people think as well as developing practical applications that have an important impact on everyday human lives.

Psychology works to help people improve their individual well-being and thrive in an increasingly complex world.