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> Everyone has different preferences. Based on those they get different outcomes. I actually have also met, and read on HN tons of people in tech who kinda rese

by ck425 4y ago

> Everyone has different preferences. Based on those they get different outcomes. I actually have also met, and read on HN tons of people in tech who kinda resent people who work a lot because it makes them look bad. The reason people resent folk who work crazy hard isn't because it makes them look bad (though it's probably factor to an extent). It's because that that preference has become the default for the whole of society in the West. The article points out that both policy in the US and social norms/values have become highly preferenced towards those who work crazy hard. The point isn't that it's bad for certain individuals to value work over everything else, it's that it's bad for society as a whole. As you say everyone has different preferences but due to this shift people whose preference isn't to put work/career before everything else are being penalised. And despite the rhetoric here it's perfectly possible to value work and work hard without it being your top priority in life.

sershe 4y ago
> The article points out that both policy in the US and social norms/values have become highly preferenced towards those who work crazy hard. The point isn't that it's bad for certain individuals to value work over everything else, it's that it's bad for society as a whole. Why is it bad specifically? > As you say everyone has different preferences but due to this shift people whose preference isn't to put work/career before everything else are being penalised Imagine you want to remodel your bathroom. Or, also, imagine you have a bad water leak in your bathroom - after all, on-call is one of the major things people in tech complain about with regard to work-life balance. You call up two otherwise similar plumbers, and one tells you that he can be there ASAP to fix your leak, and he'll do the plumbing for the remodel in 2 visits next week. The other is a balanced person so he won't fix your leak until Monday, and he doesn't like to work for a long stretch of time, so the remodel's gonna take 4 visits, sometime next month. Cost's the same, so you hire the 1st plumber. How would you feel if the 2nd one calls you back and complains he's unfairly "being penalised for his preferences"? That's the thing. Everyone (ok, most people) would prefer to hire (or work with) a workaholic, other things being equal. But in abstract, some mysterious "society" should apparently prefer otherwise.

by ck425 4y ago

sershe 4y ago

> The article points out that both policy in the US and social norms/values have become highly preferenced towards those who work crazy hard. The point isn't that it's bad for certain individuals to value work over everything else, it's that it's bad for society as a whole. Why is it bad specifically? > As you say everyone has different preferences but due to this shift people whose preference isn't to put work/career before everything else are being penalised Imagine you want to remodel your bathroom. Or, also, imagine you have a bad water leak in your bathroom - after all, on-call is one of the major things people in tech complain about with regard to work-life balance. You call up two otherwise similar plumbers, and one tells you that he can be there ASAP to fix your leak, and he'll do the plumbing for the remodel in 2 visits next week. The other is a balanced person so he won't fix your leak until Monday, and he doesn't like to work for a long stretch of time, so the remodel's gonna take 4 visits, sometime next month. Cost's the same, so you hire the 1st plumber. How would you feel if the 2nd one calls you back and complains he's unfairly "being penalised for his preferences"? That's the thing. Everyone (ok, most people) would prefer to hire (or work with) a workaholic, other things being equal. But in abstract, some mysterious "society" should apparently prefer otherwise.