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I disagree with these conclusions in principle. At 2 different stages of my life I've had a "long" commute. One was ~90km the other was ~20km. I drove one, and

I disagree with these conclusions in principle. At 2 different stages of my life I've had a "long" commute. One was ~90km the other was ~20km. I drove one, and rode a bike for the other. Each took about an hour. I would listen to audiobooks on each one, and it was my favorite part of the day. I sincerely beleive that this is a `making lemonade out of lemons` type of situation. You can still "do something" with your time. Listen to a book, a lecture, podcasts. Anything that engages you and you enjoy. Stop looking at it as `wasted time in traffic`.

hn_user2 3y ago
It is quite interesting the various anecdotes in the comments that all seem to have different opinions and contradict each other. All of which of course can be true--including the article. One thing can be linked to another and there still be outliers of course. For my story. I moved within walking distance of my office 20 years ago. Since then, I will never do any sort of commute. It completely changed my day. I since changed to remote work, but if I have to go into an office again, I will move within a couple blocks of wherever that office is.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
happytoexplain 3y ago
This is a confusing attitude - you felt OK with spending that time listening to something, so you "disagree with these conclusions"? The conclusion isn't that some people can't be OK with a long commute. You sound like you're trying to be helpful, but you also sound accusative toward people who are miserable commuting (regardless of what they are listening to while doing it). Obviously we can't solve the misery of the majority of those people by saying "you have the wrong attitude". "Making lemonade out of lemons" is simply inapplicable in this context. If a person can give up that time to commute, then that same person, without the commute, could give up that time to listen to something if they actually wanted to. The listening is merely a mitigation, which will help some people a lot, some people a little, and some people not at all - it's not some kind of opportunity.
financltravsty 3y ago
I can listen to an audio book on my comfy coach without risking permanent injury and death at home.
pinusc 3y ago
A "link to higher chance of depression" does not mean that 100% of the people with 1 hour commute develop depression. Even if it meant that 99% do, your belonging to the remaining 1% does not invalidate the study. Personal experience is anedoctal evidence, i.e. not science, not _true_ in the sense that it generalizes beyond yourself. People are different from one another, and what might be neutral or enjoyable for you might be depressing for other people. All this study is saying is that on average, a long commute is more likely to be depressing. Also, there is some arrogance in assuming that all those depressed people just _haven't thought about_ cycling to work, or listening to a podcast, and should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps to start feeling better. Not everyone gets to make lemonade out of lemons. For one thing, you need to be able to afford sugar (_but it's cheap to me!_). For another, you need to like lemonade in the first place. Besides... Correlation is not causation, and the depression might not be a direct consequence of being bored on transport. Perhaps it's because they get to spend 30 fewer minutes with their family, pets, or hobbies. Perhaps it turns out people with longer commutes tend to have worse paying jobs, or live in areas with less opportunities for recreation (even a local park counts). But I think it's at least plausible that lengthening your already-too-long workday by an hour can't possibly make your life happier.

hn_user2 3y ago

It is quite interesting the various anecdotes in the comments that all seem to have different opinions and contradict each other. All of which of course can be true--including the article. One thing can be linked to another and there still be outliers of course. For my story. I moved within walking distance of my office 20 years ago. Since then, I will never do any sort of commute. It completely changed my day. I since changed to remote work, but if I have to go into an office again, I will move within a couple blocks of wherever that office is.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

happytoexplain 3y ago

This is a confusing attitude - you felt OK with spending that time listening to something, so you "disagree with these conclusions"? The conclusion isn't that some people can't be OK with a long commute. You sound like you're trying to be helpful, but you also sound accusative toward people who are miserable commuting (regardless of what they are listening to while doing it). Obviously we can't solve the misery of the majority of those people by saying "you have the wrong attitude". "Making lemonade out of lemons" is simply inapplicable in this context. If a person can give up that time to commute, then that same person, without the commute, could give up that time to listen to something if they actually wanted to. The listening is merely a mitigation, which will help some people a lot, some people a little, and some people not at all - it's not some kind of opportunity.

financltravsty 3y ago

I can listen to an audio book on my comfy coach without risking permanent injury and death at home.

pinusc 3y ago

A "link to higher chance of depression" does not mean that 100% of the people with 1 hour commute develop depression. Even if it meant that 99% do, your belonging to the remaining 1% does not invalidate the study. Personal experience is anedoctal evidence, i.e. not science, not _true_ in the sense that it generalizes beyond yourself. People are different from one another, and what might be neutral or enjoyable for you might be depressing for other people. All this study is saying is that on average, a long commute is more likely to be depressing. Also, there is some arrogance in assuming that all those depressed people just _haven't thought about_ cycling to work, or listening to a podcast, and should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps to start feeling better. Not everyone gets to make lemonade out of lemons. For one thing, you need to be able to afford sugar (_but it's cheap to me!_). For another, you need to like lemonade in the first place. Besides... Correlation is not causation, and the depression might not be a direct consequence of being bored on transport. Perhaps it's because they get to spend 30 fewer minutes with their family, pets, or hobbies. Perhaps it turns out people with longer commutes tend to have worse paying jobs, or live in areas with less opportunities for recreation (even a local park counts). But I think it's at least plausible that lengthening your already-too-long workday by an hour can't possibly make your life happier.