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People like the change working from home for a few months. This is not socially sustainable though. People will begin to feel isolated and lonely (which is alre

People like the change working from home for a few months. This is not socially sustainable though. People will begin to feel isolated and lonely (which is already an epidemic in itself). Working from home for years on end is something only a handful of people are really cut out for, and the problem is that most people don't realize they're not one of those people until they've been doing it for quite a while.

_curious_ 6y ago
"This is not socially sustainable though" Maybe it isn't for some, like you, but for many/most forced WFH I believe the outcome will in fact be lasting and socially fruitful. (Personally, I've WFH 10+ years so not the best example because it was always my preference and had no cares about missing out on potential social interactions or relationships with co-workers) But plenty of people I know about have been recently forced to WFH are finding various new hobbies and thus discovering and developing new social circles (Online & IRL) even w/ CV19 circumstances. Not to mention just going outside to do things and meeting others is happening a lot - at least where I live. Between observing this and thinking through it more...I'm not convinced that coworkers are really the best types of relationships anyways. Indeed they can provide us with some superficial temporary social stimuli and primitive reinforcement, though not sure relationships by default/proximity are not built to last regardless. And they often come with the consummate 'shop talk' and 'office politics' or 'gossip' trade-offs - all childish stuff to be concerned with in or outside of work. My hunch is that we're all better off getting to know people outside our own little bubbles :)
ianhorn 6y ago
Right now, so many people's social outlets are work, which seems the bad part. Take that away and either now there's nothing, or norms change and people make more social outlets to meet people outside of work. I'm sure hoping for the latter, which I see as better than the status quo.

_curious_ 6y ago

"This is not socially sustainable though" Maybe it isn't for some, like you, but for many/most forced WFH I believe the outcome will in fact be lasting and socially fruitful. (Personally, I've WFH 10+ years so not the best example because it was always my preference and had no cares about missing out on potential social interactions or relationships with co-workers) But plenty of people I know about have been recently forced to WFH are finding various new hobbies and thus discovering and developing new social circles (Online & IRL) even w/ CV19 circumstances. Not to mention just going outside to do things and meeting others is happening a lot - at least where I live. Between observing this and thinking through it more...I'm not convinced that coworkers are really the best types of relationships anyways. Indeed they can provide us with some superficial temporary social stimuli and primitive reinforcement, though not sure relationships by default/proximity are not built to last regardless. And they often come with the consummate 'shop talk' and 'office politics' or 'gossip' trade-offs - all childish stuff to be concerned with in or outside of work. My hunch is that we're all better off getting to know people outside our own little bubbles :)

ianhorn 6y ago

Right now, so many people's social outlets are work, which seems the bad part. Take that away and either now there's nothing, or norms change and people make more social outlets to meet people outside of work. I'm sure hoping for the latter, which I see as better than the status quo.