As someone who does quite a bit of remote work. One must consider the time-lag. Even the best remote applications have 300 ms lags. It is one thing if every keyboard stroke takes longer than the blink of an eye. Quite another if every cut and suture has that delay.
Robert Heinlein was amused by Gernsback's attempts to predict the future. Heinlein said that the only sure way to be wrong about predictions is to assume things progress smoothly. A corollary is that successful inventions will always have unexpected sociological effects. Gernsback obviously thought managers would use technology to increase workplace abuse. Take those ideas as a warning rather than a suggestion.
In regards to the Norway prison, the US has similar rules at prisons nicknamed "Club Fed." They are for convicts who are unlikely to escape or be violent. I might add that the post list only two of the goals of a penal system: Isolation and rehabilitation. The third is punishment. I assume that the lack of choice, travel and communication at these lighter prisons is sufficient punishment.
To expand on your exceptions, all that is needed is the addition of an adjective or the conversion of the word to an adjective. "I got laid low last night."; "I was anti-sober last night." Or maybe, "I was so pissed last night that I got pissed and pissed away an entire paycheck just before getting arrested for pumping raw sewage,"
My favorite Mongolian band are these talented youngsters: OTYKEN - STORM (Official Music Video) (youtube.com)