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Take a minute to think, on this Sunday night, about how much personal time you've had this week. You've most likely spent 5 of the last 7 days making someone el

Take a minute to think, on this Sunday night, about how much personal time you've had this week. You've most likely spent 5 of the last 7 days making someone else richer, at the expense of an incredible toll on your body and mind: an artificially early wake-up to an alarm, a late-night frozen pizza dinner because there's no time to cook and clean up for yourself, and you're finally sitting down getting ready to relax when you remember you get to start the whole week over again tomorrow morning. 2 days is not enough time to recover from the hell that is the modern salaried work week. Let's use some of the amazing surplus we've generated to make life easier for ourselves for once. The 4 day workweek is just the beginning. https://reddit.com/r/antiwork https://reddit.com/r/antiwork for more inspiration.

seibelj 5y ago
If you are tired of making someone else rich, you could start your own business. But that’s a lot of work, and as someone who is anti-work, I don’t think that’s possible for you and your comrades. But the option is there!
- akersten 5y ago
  Like all movements, there's more to it than just the name - don't take it too literally: working for myself is the ultimate goal! And if I ever do find success enough to require employees, I could never imagine asking them to spend 71% of their week thinking about me and my problems. Maybe it's easy to daydream egalitarian - but I think we as a society can do better for each other.
  - seibelj 5y ago
    A perusal of that subreddit is full of a lot of anti-capitalist propaganda and some obvious logical fallacies. I don’t think consuming that subreddit is very healthy or productive.
  - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
    Many of us work 40 hours in 5 days. There are 168 hours in a week. That's 24% of the week, not 71%.
    - prawn 5y ago
      I assume they're excluding sleep, which isn't unreasonable in this discussion.
      - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
        Still no. 8 hours of sleep a day leaves you 16 hours a day, so 112 hours a week. 40 hours is 36% of 112. And, yeah, you could throw in commute time and get a higher percentage. It still wouldn't get you 71%, though. What skersten did is 5/7 = 71%, as if any day you work on is totally lost to you for any other purpose.
- benbayard 5y ago
  It’s not just hard, it’s unlikely to be successful because of how rare successful businesses happen. Working 4 days a week at a stable successful company isn’t the same as starting a new business so that eventually you can work 4 days a week.
  - seibelj 5y ago
    Whelp that settles it - absolutely nothing you can do in life but be miserable until you die.
    - IntelMiner 5y ago
      You aren't unhappy that someone else doesn't like working, you hate your job and have been trained to think that someone "wants it easier" and thus are a threat Punch UP, not DOWN
      - seibelj 5y ago
        I believe using guns to force everyone to make the same salary would lead to economic ruin, as it has everywhere it’s ever been tried. If you allow differences in wealth, then some will accumulate more. Over time, these differences become pronounced. Those with wealth identify new areas to expand their enterprises. They wish to hire the best employees. The employees they consider the best get paid more. And the cycle continues. Your dream of doing nothing for money is unsustainable. I have nothing against free people choosing to work less, and free people choosing to hire part timers. Just don’t stop people from working harder and getting more than you.
        disposablex 5y ago
        isn't it already pronounced?
        overkalix 5y ago
        I guess you work in farming? Because that's a whole lot of straw men you got up there.
conanbatt 5y ago
> the hell that is the modern salaried work week. Salaried work is by far the most lenient way to make money. Any other venture: a small business, a startup, an executive position, etc is way harder and more demanding. In any case, what would be great is for the market to offer 4 day work weeks to those who wish it at the best market price, and give 5 days to the ones that want 5 days.
- NikolaNovak 5y ago
  >> Salaried work is by far the most lenient way to make money. Any other venture: a small business, a startup, an executive position, etc is way harder and more demanding. I've done both and I don't believe I'd agree with making it a generalization. At best, there may be some averages and medians, but it is not a universal statement that "all salaried work is more lenient than all small business / startup work". I've done a successful small photography business. It was way way way less stressful, more satisfying than office work, and I can only imagine how much better than e.g. Amazon warehouse work.
  - conanbatt 5y ago
    If you replace salaried with hourly, a change that is purely administrative, you increase your risk because your income is not pooled. Salary is mainly a way to pool lots of resources and insure them for sickness, rotation, leaves, etc. It is literally the risk-averse option. You want to compare salaried with its not-salaried version, not any salaried position vs any other non-salaried position.
  - ZephyrBlu 5y ago
    > I've done a successful small photography business. It was way way way less stressful, more satisfying than office work Ok, but did it generate more income? How many hours did you tend to work? Averages and medians are quite useful tools when you're analyzing something like a population. I don't think saying that a salaried job tends to be "the most lenient way to make money" is that controversial. Maybe you had a good run with your photography business, for many other people it is far more difficult to get a venture off the ground than to work a normal job.
SilverRed 5y ago
The anti work subreddit misses the point imo. There is nothing wrong with working, its the amount people are working and how little they are paid. Personally I found the best way to win back your life is to eliminate driving. Work from home, live within walking distance of the supermarket and maybe even work. Not only does this save you time, the walking acts as a relaxation time so you feel better by the time you arrive at home. Driving, traffic, and public transport are all sources of stress that make your life worse daily. Personally I find the weekend long enough but work days to be too long. I'd rather shorten each day and stick to 5 days as it means I have plenty of time to cook and go out for exercise daily.
machinehermiter 5y ago
The average American spends 2 hours and 3 minutes a day on social media. Is that not enough? Would 3 or 4 hours be better? Maybe the problem is you need to get the distracting nonsense out of your life?

seibelj 5y ago

If you are tired of making someone else rich, you could start your own business. But that’s a lot of work, and as someone who is anti-work, I don’t think that’s possible for you and your comrades. But the option is there!

akersten 5y ago
Like all movements, there's more to it than just the name - don't take it too literally: working for myself is the ultimate goal! And if I ever do find success enough to require employees, I could never imagine asking them to spend 71% of their week thinking about me and my problems. Maybe it's easy to daydream egalitarian - but I think we as a society can do better for each other.
- seibelj 5y ago
  A perusal of that subreddit is full of a lot of anti-capitalist propaganda and some obvious logical fallacies. I don’t think consuming that subreddit is very healthy or productive.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  Many of us work 40 hours in 5 days. There are 168 hours in a week. That's 24% of the week, not 71%.
  - prawn 5y ago
    I assume they're excluding sleep, which isn't unreasonable in this discussion.
    - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
      Still no. 8 hours of sleep a day leaves you 16 hours a day, so 112 hours a week. 40 hours is 36% of 112. And, yeah, you could throw in commute time and get a higher percentage. It still wouldn't get you 71%, though. What skersten did is 5/7 = 71%, as if any day you work on is totally lost to you for any other purpose.
benbayard 5y ago
It’s not just hard, it’s unlikely to be successful because of how rare successful businesses happen. Working 4 days a week at a stable successful company isn’t the same as starting a new business so that eventually you can work 4 days a week.
- seibelj 5y ago
  Whelp that settles it - absolutely nothing you can do in life but be miserable until you die.
  - IntelMiner 5y ago
    You aren't unhappy that someone else doesn't like working, you hate your job and have been trained to think that someone "wants it easier" and thus are a threat Punch UP, not DOWN
    - seibelj 5y ago
      I believe using guns to force everyone to make the same salary would lead to economic ruin, as it has everywhere it’s ever been tried. If you allow differences in wealth, then some will accumulate more. Over time, these differences become pronounced. Those with wealth identify new areas to expand their enterprises. They wish to hire the best employees. The employees they consider the best get paid more. And the cycle continues. Your dream of doing nothing for money is unsustainable. I have nothing against free people choosing to work less, and free people choosing to hire part timers. Just don’t stop people from working harder and getting more than you.
      - disposablex 5y ago
        isn't it already pronounced?
      - overkalix 5y ago
        I guess you work in farming? Because that's a whole lot of straw men you got up there.

conanbatt 5y ago

> the hell that is the modern salaried work week. Salaried work is by far the most lenient way to make money. Any other venture: a small business, a startup, an executive position, etc is way harder and more demanding. In any case, what would be great is for the market to offer 4 day work weeks to those who wish it at the best market price, and give 5 days to the ones that want 5 days.

NikolaNovak 5y ago
>> Salaried work is by far the most lenient way to make money. Any other venture: a small business, a startup, an executive position, etc is way harder and more demanding. I've done both and I don't believe I'd agree with making it a generalization. At best, there may be some averages and medians, but it is not a universal statement that "all salaried work is more lenient than all small business / startup work". I've done a successful small photography business. It was way way way less stressful, more satisfying than office work, and I can only imagine how much better than e.g. Amazon warehouse work.
- conanbatt 5y ago
  If you replace salaried with hourly, a change that is purely administrative, you increase your risk because your income is not pooled. Salary is mainly a way to pool lots of resources and insure them for sickness, rotation, leaves, etc. It is literally the risk-averse option. You want to compare salaried with its not-salaried version, not any salaried position vs any other non-salaried position.
- ZephyrBlu 5y ago
  > I've done a successful small photography business. It was way way way less stressful, more satisfying than office work Ok, but did it generate more income? How many hours did you tend to work? Averages and medians are quite useful tools when you're analyzing something like a population. I don't think saying that a salaried job tends to be "the most lenient way to make money" is that controversial. Maybe you had a good run with your photography business, for many other people it is far more difficult to get a venture off the ground than to work a normal job.

SilverRed 5y ago

The anti work subreddit misses the point imo. There is nothing wrong with working, its the amount people are working and how little they are paid. Personally I found the best way to win back your life is to eliminate driving. Work from home, live within walking distance of the supermarket and maybe even work. Not only does this save you time, the walking acts as a relaxation time so you feel better by the time you arrive at home. Driving, traffic, and public transport are all sources of stress that make your life worse daily. Personally I find the weekend long enough but work days to be too long. I'd rather shorten each day and stick to 5 days as it means I have plenty of time to cook and go out for exercise daily.

machinehermiter 5y ago

The average American spends 2 hours and 3 minutes a day on social media. Is that not enough? Would 3 or 4 hours be better? Maybe the problem is you need to get the distracting nonsense out of your life?