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The need for casual/social environment is largely a myth. For the first 15-20 years of your life a person's ability to survive is based on getting attention fr

The need for casual/social environment is largely a myth. For the first 15-20 years of your life a person's ability to survive is based on getting attention from mom and dad. Slowly that fades until people are self sufficient. College students are very "hey look at me!" as they slowly relearn how to get what they need and that holds over into younger oriented workplaces. For the actual process of building value and generating revenue, except for some professions such as sales, interaction can easily be electronic.

riskneutral 7y ago
You must have a very limited scope of work experience to believe this.
jedberg 7y ago
My guess is you are an extreme introvert or a recent college grad. When I switched to working from home five years ago, the biggest thing I missed was random social interaction with other adults. Sure I have my wife and kids, but my wife has heard all my stories and my kids aren't the right audience for most of them.
- one2know 7y ago
  You "missing" something is different than being able to keep a business running and making revenue. We are talking about work here. Now, some people's jobs may depend on their ability to socialize because their position is based solely on social circumstances. Those types of jobs where you can't work from home because you'll lose your job if you don't get enough face time with execs should never have existed in the first place.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    Humans aren't robots. Most require social interaction to survive. Sort of like health care. US businesses provide it because the government doesn't, but health care is vital to a functioning business. Your people need to be healthy to do work. That includes mental health.
- tbyehl 7y ago
  Within a short period my work BFF got RIF'd, my job transitioned from +/- 2 office days per week to permanent WFH, and I split with my wife and she took most of "our" social group with her. As introverted as I am, the sudden and extreme social isolation hit me hard. Then I coped by just making myself get out of the house and being more receptive to random social interactions at stores and whatnot. Made myself pick an interesting meetup to attend every week or so. Now, with the whole point being to isolate ourselves, I don't know what I'd do if I were still living alone. Group chats and videoconferencing really aren't a substitute for in-person human interaction.
HenryBemis 7y ago
As Jed and Riskneutral already commented, sometimes you need to speak to an adult about whatever.. sports, the weather, a movie you watched, discuss a new food place, discuss a new bar.. anything. We don't live ours lives through Yelp (or whatever app people discover places). Also socializing is a human need literally "since forever". Perhaps you are an introvert, and still at some point even you would have the need to interact with a fellow human.
- thatcat 7y ago
  I get the need to interact, but you can mostly do that via the internet as well. The most difficult part is discussing projects that require significant effort to describe the design or problem because you can't get instant feedback from body language, etc.

riskneutral 7y ago

You must have a very limited scope of work experience to believe this.

jedberg 7y ago

My guess is you are an extreme introvert or a recent college grad. When I switched to working from home five years ago, the biggest thing I missed was random social interaction with other adults. Sure I have my wife and kids, but my wife has heard all my stories and my kids aren't the right audience for most of them.

one2know 7y ago
You "missing" something is different than being able to keep a business running and making revenue. We are talking about work here. Now, some people's jobs may depend on their ability to socialize because their position is based solely on social circumstances. Those types of jobs where you can't work from home because you'll lose your job if you don't get enough face time with execs should never have existed in the first place.
- jedberg 7y ago
  Humans aren't robots. Most require social interaction to survive. Sort of like health care. US businesses provide it because the government doesn't, but health care is vital to a functioning business. Your people need to be healthy to do work. That includes mental health.
tbyehl 7y ago
Within a short period my work BFF got RIF'd, my job transitioned from +/- 2 office days per week to permanent WFH, and I split with my wife and she took most of "our" social group with her. As introverted as I am, the sudden and extreme social isolation hit me hard. Then I coped by just making myself get out of the house and being more receptive to random social interactions at stores and whatnot. Made myself pick an interesting meetup to attend every week or so. Now, with the whole point being to isolate ourselves, I don't know what I'd do if I were still living alone. Group chats and videoconferencing really aren't a substitute for in-person human interaction.

HenryBemis 7y ago

As Jed and Riskneutral already commented, sometimes you need to speak to an adult about whatever.. sports, the weather, a movie you watched, discuss a new food place, discuss a new bar.. anything. We don't live ours lives through Yelp (or whatever app people discover places). Also socializing is a human need literally "since forever". Perhaps you are an introvert, and still at some point even you would have the need to interact with a fellow human.

thatcat 7y ago
I get the need to interact, but you can mostly do that via the internet as well. The most difficult part is discussing projects that require significant effort to describe the design or problem because you can't get instant feedback from body language, etc.