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They'll also get a burst of creativity. I know that whenever I am unemployed my creativity just gets diverted into the nearest interesting endeavour. One of tho

They'll also get a burst of creativity. I know that whenever I am unemployed my creativity just gets diverted into the nearest interesting endeavour. One of those might have paid off and become a business. Quite likely in fact, if I hadn't had to work. I've often considered going on benefits so that I can work on my own ideas unhindered by work life. But I wanted a family more than I wanted time to pursue my other dreams. I am very sure there are a great many others who are taking the opportunity to follow their dreams now that they have been forced to stay at home, out of work.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago
What sorts of dreams can you follow when you are broke? I mean, realistically? And creative endeavors - how are your affording these things? Are your hobbies cheap? Does the stress of non-work bother you? Were you lucky enough to have decent compensation when you were unemployed or have someone else to support you? How in the world do you "go on benefits" if you are able-bodied? Are you in a country where benefits mean you get more than poverty money?
- plutonorm 6y ago
  Poverty would be fine if I had the chance to work on what I want to work on. All I need is a computer for my work. I could work on mathematics, physics, I could write a novel. I could read academic papers day in day out, gorge on information. It would be wonderful.
  - andi999 6y ago
    Who buys you food?
  - kyuudou 6y ago
    And shelter? Sewer? You could conceivably be a nomad but that takes some effort and still has baseline costs.
  - Broken_Hippo 6y ago
    In other words: Yes, your hobby is cheap. You only have to buy a computer every once in a while, though you'll run into trouble the moment it gets too out of date or breaks. Poverty doesn't allow you to replace such things. Lots of hobbies require investment. I do art: more specifically, draw and paint, both of which require supplies. My mother sews, but that requires material and making a shirt is more expensive than buying it unless you get material, thread, and things for free. Spouse makes music: Some guitars eat strings and synths take space and electricity (not to mention the cost: Used synths are still expensive).
    - plutonorm 6y ago
      Then I would use the computer in the local library. Failing that I'm quite comfortable just working on things with a pencil and paper, I could quite easily lose myself in mathematics for a life time.
brazzy 6y ago
Please actually read the article. You couldn't be further from the truth. This isn't about people temporarily out of a job for whom having a lot of free time is a breath of fresh air. This is about people who have spent decades without a job or on-and-off underpaid jobs because they missed a critical, narrow window in their lives where full-time employment with actual career prospects was available. They feel stifled and useless, not creative.
- plutonorm 6y ago
  I have understood the article. I am saying for a minority this will be a liberation from duty and will allow for their natural creativity to express itself. Many will feel stifled, useless and un creative - but a few will have an opportunity to create that a normal life would not have afforded them.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- t0mbstone 6y ago
  I read the article and all I could think was, "wow, what a load of excuses". The idea that you can only get a job if you take advantage of a critical window in your life is nonsense. There is plenty of work for people who are willing to work. For example, you could go door to door in your apartment complex and offer to take people's trash out to the dumpster. You could offer to clean their house, wash their dishes, do their laundry, walk their dogs, whatever. Mow people's lawns, weed their flowers, whatever. If you are trustworthy and reliable and even slightly entrepreneurial, you will have more work than you know what to do with. It might not pay well (or hardly at all) at first, but it will build over time. But instead, these losers are sitting at home watching anime and listening to K-Pop and moaning about how they missed their window of opportunity, while they live off their parents for years. Gimme a friggin break. I could definitely see this as being an issue with culture and depression, though. If the culture represses and shames entrepreneurs or people doing menial labor, for example, that would be a big issue. And if you are depressed, it's hard to find motivation to get out there and work and be rejected by all of the people who turn you down as you go door to door.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago

What sorts of dreams can you follow when you are broke? I mean, realistically? And creative endeavors - how are your affording these things? Are your hobbies cheap? Does the stress of non-work bother you? Were you lucky enough to have decent compensation when you were unemployed or have someone else to support you? How in the world do you "go on benefits" if you are able-bodied? Are you in a country where benefits mean you get more than poverty money?

plutonorm 6y ago
Poverty would be fine if I had the chance to work on what I want to work on. All I need is a computer for my work. I could work on mathematics, physics, I could write a novel. I could read academic papers day in day out, gorge on information. It would be wonderful.
- andi999 6y ago
  Who buys you food?
- kyuudou 6y ago
  And shelter? Sewer? You could conceivably be a nomad but that takes some effort and still has baseline costs.
- Broken_Hippo 6y ago
  In other words: Yes, your hobby is cheap. You only have to buy a computer every once in a while, though you'll run into trouble the moment it gets too out of date or breaks. Poverty doesn't allow you to replace such things. Lots of hobbies require investment. I do art: more specifically, draw and paint, both of which require supplies. My mother sews, but that requires material and making a shirt is more expensive than buying it unless you get material, thread, and things for free. Spouse makes music: Some guitars eat strings and synths take space and electricity (not to mention the cost: Used synths are still expensive).
  - plutonorm 6y ago
    Then I would use the computer in the local library. Failing that I'm quite comfortable just working on things with a pencil and paper, I could quite easily lose myself in mathematics for a life time.

brazzy 6y ago

Please actually read the article. You couldn't be further from the truth. This isn't about people temporarily out of a job for whom having a lot of free time is a breath of fresh air. This is about people who have spent decades without a job or on-and-off underpaid jobs because they missed a critical, narrow window in their lives where full-time employment with actual career prospects was available. They feel stifled and useless, not creative.

plutonorm 6y ago
I have understood the article. I am saying for a minority this will be a liberation from duty and will allow for their natural creativity to express itself. Many will feel stifled, useless and un creative - but a few will have an opportunity to create that a normal life would not have afforded them.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
t0mbstone 6y ago
I read the article and all I could think was, "wow, what a load of excuses". The idea that you can only get a job if you take advantage of a critical window in your life is nonsense. There is plenty of work for people who are willing to work. For example, you could go door to door in your apartment complex and offer to take people's trash out to the dumpster. You could offer to clean their house, wash their dishes, do their laundry, walk their dogs, whatever. Mow people's lawns, weed their flowers, whatever. If you are trustworthy and reliable and even slightly entrepreneurial, you will have more work than you know what to do with. It might not pay well (or hardly at all) at first, but it will build over time. But instead, these losers are sitting at home watching anime and listening to K-Pop and moaning about how they missed their window of opportunity, while they live off their parents for years. Gimme a friggin break. I could definitely see this as being an issue with culture and depression, though. If the culture represses and shames entrepreneurs or people doing menial labor, for example, that would be a big issue. And if you are depressed, it's hard to find motivation to get out there and work and be rejected by all of the people who turn you down as you go door to door.