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I guess most of these jobs don’t allow for music or YouTube to be used during work? I’m just thinking that people already spend a lot of time just consuming co

I guess most of these jobs don’t allow for music or YouTube to be used during work? I’m just thinking that people already spend a lot of time just consuming content, so if it were possible to watch YouTube while at the factory, maybe it wouldn’t be as unpopular.

scns 1y ago
Listening to music should work, no pun intended. Watching YouTube though?
- keiferski 1y ago
  Yeah I guess it’s probably not realistic for most factory jobs. I am just thinking that “get paid $20 an hour to do a simple task and watch YouTube/listen to music” is actually kind of appealing to many people.
  - jazzyjackson 1y ago
    This is a lot of security guard and front desk jobs. if a boss doesn't like smartphones on the job, I know people who read books or knit between tasks.
  - ta1243 1y ago
    When I was 18 I got paid below minimum wage to sit in my car delivering pizzas while listening to the radio. Far better than the higher paid shop job I tried at university. Today with not just unlimited music (with no adverts), but the vast amounts of audio books you can listen to, it's even more appealing for people with limited financial obligations.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
  > Watching YouTube though? Yeah, I can't make that work. Only my most routine work can be done with the TV on (and providing it's my 5th rewatch).
  - riffraff 1y ago
    It's a matter of habit and personal traits. I grew up doing homework with the TV on and still sometimes work with a tiny video overlay showing some anime or tv show. You basically pay attention to a small part of it, and switch focus as needed (pause your task or pause the video). You'll still miss a lot of the video but you just don't care. I know this is unthinkable to some people but I've met more than one person who does it, so it's not ultra-rare. Possibly related to ADD/ADHD? I don't know.
- ASalazarMX 1y ago
  Having worked at a very simple factory job that involved hot-pressing plastic-aluminium film into shapes, yeah, that would end badly. It's unskilled job, that doesn't mean it's mindless. If you look away from your job you might lose a finger,.. or *gasp* even worse, stop production!
rgblambda 1y ago
From my limited experience working in a factory environment, listening to music can be a real workplace safety issue if it reduces your ability to hear forklifts or coworkers shouting warnings.
- lesuorac 1y ago
  Do you hire deaf people? I always found the laws prohibiting drivers from wearing earplugs (some exemptions for motorcycles) and the like pretty funny.
  - kube-system 1y ago
    US employers cannot discriminate against a deaf person and must make reasonable accommodations to make it safe for them to do their job. US employers are not legally required to make accommodations for people who simply want to listen to music at work. Today's vehicles already have a lot of sound deadening (and good stereos) and it is becoming a problem for emergency vehicles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvTBmBDPno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvTBmBDPno
    - lmm 1y ago
      > US employers cannot discriminate against a deaf person and must make reasonable accommodations to make it safe for them to do their job. > US employers are not legally required to make accommodations for people who simply want to listen to music at work. So it would be reasonably possible, but since it's not legally required they'd rather make their workers miserable for no benefit, and then complain how difficult it is to hire people?
      - kube-system 1y ago
        Well, just because an employer can make reasonable accommodations for one or a few deaf people, doesn't necessarily mean that it would be reasonable or safe for the entire organization to operate in the same way. A "reasonable accommodation" could be something like a modified job role. E.g. you might move someone from a role that can't safely be done while deaf into a role that they could do. That's something that you could do for one or a couple of people, but you couldn't do for everybody. I do agree with the sentiment that employers should take more efforts to make their jobs enjoyable to do. But some job sites have things that can kill people. The reason that heavy machinery beeps when it backs up is because people died at work before it did.
bluGill 1y ago
Music might be allowed - though the factory is often loud enough that it isn't really practical. You still need to be able to hear the safety signals though. YouTube cannot be allowed - you need to be ready to work when the line moves the next part to you. There are also safety concerns with watching youtube instead of the various hazards which are always there.
- greedo 1y ago
  If the factory is so loud that listening to music isn't practical, the workers should have hearing protection that would limit the effectiveness of safety signals...
DavidPeiffer 1y ago
I work in manufacturing. There are a few instances where watching YouTube may not be a huge hazard, but 98% of the roles I've seen the are reasonable reasons to not permit that. If nothing else, it'd be easy to let quality suffer which causes many bigger headaches. I went to a panel discussion at a conference last year. Operations managers agreed labor was their biggest challenge. The manager for the promotional materials company who was probably around 60 discussed how he has loosened up a bit the last ~15 years. If someone sends a couple texts and it slightly impacts the units they (personally) do per hour, it was better than being super strict and losing employees. He had to adapt because the mentality was far different than when he started in the workforce.
- nebula8804 1y ago
  He just needs to wait a decade, the Chinese workers will be retiring and will not be replaced. Entire product segments probably just go away or the inflation raises the table such that the managers situation now is the norm. Problem solved.
  - cpursley 1y ago
    You seem obsessed with the “China population collapse” propaganda (which is put out by the usual suspects, btw). Anyways, I hate to break it to you, but this is also the trend throughout the entire Western world. Besides, automation and AI is going offset a lot of those worker losses (which is actually a win). And in 20 years the Chinese will still be giving birth to as many if not more people than the entire combine West.
    - IsTom 1y ago
      That's true that West has population decline as well, but due to 1 child policy the decline in China is going to be much steeper.
      - cpursley 1y ago
        I think mainly on the pensions side of things, and perhaps a lot of empty real estate and infra maintenance issues. But they will still be graduating more engineers than the West combined and in general, a better educated and more socially cohesive workforce. I think they are gonna be just fine, even if we don't like their political system (which will likely evolve, anyways).

scns 1y ago

Listening to music should work, no pun intended. Watching YouTube though?

keiferski 1y ago
Yeah I guess it’s probably not realistic for most factory jobs. I am just thinking that “get paid $20 an hour to do a simple task and watch YouTube/listen to music” is actually kind of appealing to many people.
- jazzyjackson 1y ago
  This is a lot of security guard and front desk jobs. if a boss doesn't like smartphones on the job, I know people who read books or knit between tasks.
- ta1243 1y ago
  When I was 18 I got paid below minimum wage to sit in my car delivering pizzas while listening to the radio. Far better than the higher paid shop job I tried at university. Today with not just unlimited music (with no adverts), but the vast amounts of audio books you can listen to, it's even more appealing for people with limited financial obligations.
WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
> Watching YouTube though? Yeah, I can't make that work. Only my most routine work can be done with the TV on (and providing it's my 5th rewatch).
- riffraff 1y ago
  It's a matter of habit and personal traits. I grew up doing homework with the TV on and still sometimes work with a tiny video overlay showing some anime or tv show. You basically pay attention to a small part of it, and switch focus as needed (pause your task or pause the video). You'll still miss a lot of the video but you just don't care. I know this is unthinkable to some people but I've met more than one person who does it, so it's not ultra-rare. Possibly related to ADD/ADHD? I don't know.
ASalazarMX 1y ago
Having worked at a very simple factory job that involved hot-pressing plastic-aluminium film into shapes, yeah, that would end badly. It's unskilled job, that doesn't mean it's mindless. If you look away from your job you might lose a finger,.. or *gasp* even worse, stop production!

rgblambda 1y ago

From my limited experience working in a factory environment, listening to music can be a real workplace safety issue if it reduces your ability to hear forklifts or coworkers shouting warnings.

lesuorac 1y ago
Do you hire deaf people? I always found the laws prohibiting drivers from wearing earplugs (some exemptions for motorcycles) and the like pretty funny.
- kube-system 1y ago
  US employers cannot discriminate against a deaf person and must make reasonable accommodations to make it safe for them to do their job. US employers are not legally required to make accommodations for people who simply want to listen to music at work. Today's vehicles already have a lot of sound deadening (and good stereos) and it is becoming a problem for emergency vehicles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvTBmBDPno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvTBmBDPno
  - lmm 1y ago
    > US employers cannot discriminate against a deaf person and must make reasonable accommodations to make it safe for them to do their job. > US employers are not legally required to make accommodations for people who simply want to listen to music at work. So it would be reasonably possible, but since it's not legally required they'd rather make their workers miserable for no benefit, and then complain how difficult it is to hire people?
    - kube-system 1y ago
      Well, just because an employer can make reasonable accommodations for one or a few deaf people, doesn't necessarily mean that it would be reasonable or safe for the entire organization to operate in the same way. A "reasonable accommodation" could be something like a modified job role. E.g. you might move someone from a role that can't safely be done while deaf into a role that they could do. That's something that you could do for one or a couple of people, but you couldn't do for everybody. I do agree with the sentiment that employers should take more efforts to make their jobs enjoyable to do. But some job sites have things that can kill people. The reason that heavy machinery beeps when it backs up is because people died at work before it did.

bluGill 1y ago

Music might be allowed - though the factory is often loud enough that it isn't really practical. You still need to be able to hear the safety signals though. YouTube cannot be allowed - you need to be ready to work when the line moves the next part to you. There are also safety concerns with watching youtube instead of the various hazards which are always there.

greedo 1y ago
If the factory is so loud that listening to music isn't practical, the workers should have hearing protection that would limit the effectiveness of safety signals...

DavidPeiffer 1y ago

I work in manufacturing. There are a few instances where watching YouTube may not be a huge hazard, but 98% of the roles I've seen the are reasonable reasons to not permit that. If nothing else, it'd be easy to let quality suffer which causes many bigger headaches. I went to a panel discussion at a conference last year. Operations managers agreed labor was their biggest challenge. The manager for the promotional materials company who was probably around 60 discussed how he has loosened up a bit the last ~15 years. If someone sends a couple texts and it slightly impacts the units they (personally) do per hour, it was better than being super strict and losing employees. He had to adapt because the mentality was far different than when he started in the workforce.

nebula8804 1y ago
He just needs to wait a decade, the Chinese workers will be retiring and will not be replaced. Entire product segments probably just go away or the inflation raises the table such that the managers situation now is the norm. Problem solved.
- cpursley 1y ago
  You seem obsessed with the “China population collapse” propaganda (which is put out by the usual suspects, btw). Anyways, I hate to break it to you, but this is also the trend throughout the entire Western world. Besides, automation and AI is going offset a lot of those worker losses (which is actually a win). And in 20 years the Chinese will still be giving birth to as many if not more people than the entire combine West.
  - IsTom 1y ago
    That's true that West has population decline as well, but due to 1 child policy the decline in China is going to be much steeper.
    - cpursley 1y ago
      I think mainly on the pensions side of things, and perhaps a lot of empty real estate and infra maintenance issues. But they will still be graduating more engineers than the West combined and in general, a better educated and more socially cohesive workforce. I think they are gonna be just fine, even if we don't like their political system (which will likely evolve, anyways).