2 ms·
In my experience, commuting eats into the time and energy baseline that would be needed for "serendipity". To give a concrete example, I'm not volunteering at t
by humanrebar 4y ago
In my experience, commuting eats into the time and energy baseline that would be needed for "serendipity". To give a concrete example, I'm not volunteering at the PTO if I am commuting ten hours per week. I'm not having meals and making friends with other parents in my neighborhood.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y agoI think your response highlights the point I was making, and also highlights why you see polarization around this issue. If you're talking about "volunteering at the PTO", my guess is that you are married with children. Most people who are married with children already have most of their social framework "set", and often times (at least in the US) so much of their free time revolves are child rearing and their childrens' activities such that most of their "neighborhood friends" revolve around the serendipitous encounters they have with other parents - the PTO as you mention, sports games, etc. But for people at an earlier stage of their life and career, I think you'll find they often have a different outlook. They're often looking for a spouse, they have much more free time without kids so they're looking to meet people, etc. For me personally, I'm also at a stage where my social connections are pretty set. But I got so many of my early workplace connections when I joined a job that had a "bootcamp" 2 month training program for new grads. I've gotten nearly every subsequent job over a couple decades from that first job, not to mention many close friends. I know I wouldn't have had those close connections if I had been solely WFH in my first job out of college.
- humanrebar 4y agoReplace PTO with dating and other volunteering activities and my point stands, I think.