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> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s I did not know this. However, pre-1980+ (or later), most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on

> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s I did not know this. However, pre-1980+ (or later), most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop. And surely more of them had actual offices compared to the cubical 80s-2000s or open offices 2000+. Also, I would assume that pre-voip technology meant that salespeople were not yelling into their phones for the "joy" of their open-office-mates as they were 2000+.

marcosdumay 3y ago
> most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop Not really. If you go back to the 50's you will find armies of people looking down at paper, reading and writing, but not most. By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks, while most didn't do paper work. I believe the majority of people only started doing information (since the paper isn't there anymore) work this century on the rich countries. On many countries they didn't yet. Also, sales people were always loud.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks What kind of machines? Computers? My father was an office worker his whole life. He didn't get a PC on his desk until the 90s. Before, he had a type writer.
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    Writing machines, calculators, card organizers, whatever counter, etc. All of them loud.
gumby 3y ago
The cubicle was invented in the 60s as a way of liberating workers from the tyranny of the open plan. To give people their own space. Ironic that it became its own oppression.
- porknubbins 3y ago
  In retrospect, cubicles were just aesthetically unfortunate and a convenient target for those who wanted to mock business culture (a la Office Space). But full size cubicles were vastly superior in visual privacy and sound dampening to the hell of “open office” seating at long benches that came after.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  Cubicles were mocked into being removed for no good reason. A programmer analogy would be the goto-statememt. Mental institutions are another.

marcosdumay 3y ago

> most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop Not really. If you go back to the 50's you will find armies of people looking down at paper, reading and writing, but not most. By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks, while most didn't do paper work. I believe the majority of people only started doing information (since the paper isn't there anymore) work this century on the rich countries. On many countries they didn't yet. Also, sales people were always loud.

throwaway2037 3y ago
By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks What kind of machines? Computers? My father was an office worker his whole life. He didn't get a PC on his desk until the 90s. Before, he had a type writer.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  Writing machines, calculators, card organizers, whatever counter, etc. All of them loud.

gumby 3y ago

The cubicle was invented in the 60s as a way of liberating workers from the tyranny of the open plan. To give people their own space. Ironic that it became its own oppression.

porknubbins 3y ago
In retrospect, cubicles were just aesthetically unfortunate and a convenient target for those who wanted to mock business culture (a la Office Space). But full size cubicles were vastly superior in visual privacy and sound dampening to the hell of “open office” seating at long benches that came after.
rightbyte 3y ago
Cubicles were mocked into being removed for no good reason. A programmer analogy would be the goto-statememt. Mental institutions are another.