5 ms·
We need social relevance.
by alexpetralia 5y ago
We need social relevance.
- dmos62 5y agoVolunteering can be good.
- slothtrop 5y agoThe menial work generally associated with volunteering is less satisfying than commanding your enterprise or just developing software. Though that itself, to an extent, can be volunteered. Can always start or join a non-profit that tackles problems of interest.
- mattcwilson 5y agoYou’re entirely missing the value of volunteering. If you don’t take joy, pride, humility, and reward in the feeling of genuinely doing good work for entirely no benefit to yourself, volunteering isn’t for you.
- slothtrop 5y agoYou could tell me that washing dishes for a crowd would cure cancer and it would not fill me with joy, pride, humility or reward. That doesn't mean I never find reward in helping others in-person or otherwise, and in some instances there's a sense of moral duty. Ultimately most people favor volunteer work that suits them, even if they don't admit it. An easy way to confirm this is that there are usually more effective ways to be charitable qua saving lives than chosen avenues; that doesn't mean it isn't meaningful, but there is a selfish element. I would also consider those aforementioned emotions you listed as personal benefit. Those aren't elicited through mere rationalization, but human contact, which releases Oxytocin. They scale not with real-world impact (which can feel too abstracted) but social contact. That's why charities struggle.
- dmos62 5y agoMenial work less satisfying than commanding or developing is a pretty satirical definition of volunteering.
- slothtrop 5y agoIt would be, were it a definition of volunteering.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoFind something that hurts you about the world, and find a way to make that better for other people. That is the overarching thesis around volunteering.
- slothtrop 5y agoThat's why I donate to charity.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoEveryone has a different path to fulfillment.
- cafard 5y agoI teach ESL as a volunteer one night a week. I'm willing to hear that someone would find this less satisfying than some other activity. However, I don't see that it qualifies as menial. (I am not retired, for what it's worth.)
- 0des 5y agoI've never heard this term before, can you share more about your experience with it so I can understand it better?
- retrac 5y agoHumans are inherently social creatures. We live for other people, mostly. Take that away and life gets damn pointless. Depression that eventually becomes catatonia, ultimately resulting in death from self-neglect in the extreme case, is a typical human response to complete long-term isolation.
- 0des 5y agoI suppose I can see that, thanks for taking a minute to explain it. Sometimes these phrases can shoot right past me.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoThe search for meaning and status through interactions with others.