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I have a very short commute, 5 min walk from door to work. So that's 10 minutes a day. With 260 workdays a year, for me that's 2600 minutes - or 43.3 hours, ju
by TrackerFF 3y ago
I have a very short commute, 5 min walk from door to work. So that's 10 minutes a day.
With 260 workdays a year, for me that's 2600 minutes - or 43.3 hours, just over 5 workdays, spent to and from work.
One of my colleagues has a 1 hour commute, so for him that's whooping 520 hours / 65 workdays spent on commuting!
But anyway, the commute isn't the only factor for me: During my 30 min lunch, I spend maybe 10 minutes eating, and the rest 20 mins is spent on shooting the shit with colleagues, scrolling the phone, or similar stuff.
When I work from home, I can spend that time doing chores. I can put on clothes, do the dishes, cleaning, or whatever. It's amazing how much you can do, by just spending 10-15 mins here and there throughout the week.
My weekends do feel a bit longer, since there's less housework to be done.
I spend less money on fuel, and shop less.
Of course, I do enjoy hanging out and talking with my colleagues - but I don't feel like I'm "missing out" if I'm at the office 1-3 days a week, compared to 5 days a week.
So, mostly just benefits for my part. Can't really imagine going back to a typical "butts in seats" with lots of facetime type of job.
- lostlogin 3y agoCommutes can be amazing. Biking home after a shitty day and getting a few segment records on Strava is so great. I also like a commute via train or maybe even bus where I can zone out with some music or reading, then when home have the energy to get something done. A long commute via car is pure evil.
- SoftTalker 3y ago> A long commute via car is pure evil. Not everyone hates driving. I think it's better than sitting on a full bus.
- j7ake 3y agoI’ll take 20 minutes in a car over bike on a cold rainy day every time.
- SoftTalker 3y agoUnfortunately one can't reconstitute minutes saved here and there into long blocks of time that can be used later. That limits the practical impact of these sorts of commute comparisons and other time-wasting activities that we all do.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoIn office work is relatively new in humanity, even if no one alive today existed before such a time. At one time your neighborhood was not zoned as a monoculture, but included a lot of places to congregate. People got their socializing not from people who were paid to sit in the same room together, but from people who came to a cafe or restaurant or pub to sit in the same room together. If your commute is close to an office it’s also close to a communal space. Instead of doing chores at home during lunch, why not leave your home and your job and be with the people you live around? The people who share your neighborhood are more a feature of your life than the people who share your payroll, in so far as they exist in the same context as you for longer - if you let them. I actually find it sad we’ve lost our communities and traded them for our workplace cliques. We huddle in our break rooms and exchange banalities and assume this is in fact a bond we are forming. We all then commute home to our real life and the two don’t cross over. But life isn’t actually split into two realities, it’s all one thing. We just insulate our valued life over our work life, trying to make a balance between our sacrifice and our existence. This is a new phenomenon in human existence, and I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. And I suspect it’s not healthy. But why does it feel so lonely to work from home? Because we don’t have the skills, mental framework, or neighborhood infrastructure any more to build social connection outside of the artificial community of the office.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 3y agoI do dishes when I need a break from the computer too. I kinda like it. Or midday shower? Glorious. Pupper enjoys the extra walks too.