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It could slide the other way as well. American working culture could get more sustainable over time as we learn to adjust and life becomes more convenient. For
by surfpel 4y ago
It could slide the other way as well. American working culture could get more sustainable over time as we learn to adjust and life becomes more convenient.
For example, what kind of impact on productivity do conveniences like instant coffee, drive thru restaurants, and microwavable meals have? I don't think it's unreasonable to think that we will develop more of these conveniences in the future, making extremely hard work even more sustainable over time.
- vladvasiliu 4y agoThat's not necessarily the case. It assumes that hard work is not "sustainable over time" because you have to attend to minutia (making an actual coffee, cooking, etc.). But as others have said, all this takes energy. I've noticed that even though doing these "mindless, useless" tasks can be annoying, and a total drag to think about, after I went and done them I tend to feel much fresher when getting back to work. Maybe the issue is that there's a limit to the length of time we can spend focusing on only one thing.
- surfpel 4y agoI'm not suggesting any particular solution, but I am suggesting that it could become easier over time with different quality of life improvements. I gave examples of products, but it could easily be changes in other aspects of work. Like getting rid of open offices, measuring employees on work accomplished rather than time spent at work, having more frequent breaks during the day, having more flexible work schedules, etc... Again not saying any one of these are the ticket, but that general improvements over time could keep making us more productive without bringing on burnout, or at least squeezing more work in before that happens.