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More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

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Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#11
post #8
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... because they can not afford to buy a car.

Have you been to Copenhagen? Would you prefer it look like downtown Atlanta?

I am not sure if you are aware that danish car tax upon purchase is around 180% value of the car. I presume he meant this little detail rather than that danish people are poor.

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#13

"Nearly 8% of programmers now work from home, following a staggering increase of nearly 400% since 2000." Could working remotely reach a tipping point where it becomes the default? I could see it happening in the next 20 years, the advantages are too numerous. Most of the downsides are typically related to the inherent friction between onsite and the offsite workers, meaning companies that start out as remote-first w…

I've been a remote employee for 2 years now. I strongly believe that the majority of people will not be able to mentally adjust to working out of their home. It's only human nature. There are days I feel like I will go insane if i spend another 10 minutes in my apartment. Then I'd go to a coffee shop and just relax mentally while feeling like part of society. And i'm an introvert.

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#14
post #9

"Nearly 8% of programmers now work from home, following a staggering increase of nearly 400% since 2000." Could working remotely reach a tipping point where it becomes the default? I could see it happening in the next 20 years, the advantages are too numerous. Most of the downsides are typically related to the inherent friction between onsite and the offsite workers, meaning companies that start out as remote-first w…

The biggest downside to me is decreasing the ways to make a friends and being social. I worked remote for about 8 months and I got bored seeing the same room in the day and the night. Of course not having a commute is an amazing thing and environmentally friendly, but I felt very disconnected from the world. I think once working from home is the norm something will have to exist to allow for meeting new people beside…

Well with the time saved from your commute, you could get involved in something locally.

You could talk to your neighbors...

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#15
post #13

"Nearly 8% of programmers now work from home, following a staggering increase of nearly 400% since 2000." Could working remotely reach a tipping point where it becomes the default? I could see it happening in the next 20 years, the advantages are too numerous. Most of the downsides are typically related to the inherent friction between onsite and the offsite workers, meaning companies that start out as remote-first w…

I've been a remote employee for 2 years now. I strongly believe that the majority of people will not be able to mentally adjust to working out of their home. It's only human nature. There are days I feel like I will go insane if i spend another 10 minutes in my apartment. Then I'd go to a coffee shop and just relax mentally while feeling like part of society. And i'm an introvert.

Indeed. A good amount of humans are social creatures and need interaction. A coffee shop is a good idea. You don't even need to talk to people. Just being immersed in a busy environment is good enough sometimes.

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#16
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest downside to me is decreasing the ways to make a friends and being social. I worked remote for about 8 months and I got bored seeing the same room in the day and the night. Of course not having a commute is an amazing thing and environmentally friendly, but I felt very disconnected from the world. I think once working from home is the norm something will have to exist to allow for meeting new people beside…

Well with the time saved from your commute, you could get involved in something locally. You could talk to your neighbors...

...who are all working in their offices, because most of them aren't programmers.

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#17
I consider myself, without doubt, to be an introvert. I hate parties with a passion, and am perfectly happy in my own head compared to even hanging out with a good friend.

But I hated working at home. The isolation was terrible, not to mention the challenges of working on project teams (even with Slack etc). I felt lonely and less motivated.

It is funny though, because my wife is the opposite of me on the social scale. She loves groups of people and social interaction. And yet she's fine working at home. Part of this I think is because she very much goes into her own world when working with how focused she becomes, so she doesn't even notice the isolation.

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#18
post #15
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been a remote employee for 2 years now. I strongly believe that the majority of people will not be able to mentally adjust to working out of their home. It's only human nature. There are days I feel like I will go insane if i spend another 10 minutes in my apartment. Then I'd go to a coffee shop and just relax mentally while feeling like part of society. And i'm an introvert.

Indeed. A good amount of humans are social creatures and need interaction. A coffee shop is a good idea. You don't even need to talk to people. Just being immersed in a busy environment is good enough sometimes.

if i dont speak to humans, even for a short while, I start forgetting how to.

being immersed isn't enough, if anything it feels more alienating to me

Re: More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs

#20
post #9

"Nearly 8% of programmers now work from home, following a staggering increase of nearly 400% since 2000." Could working remotely reach a tipping point where it becomes the default? I could see it happening in the next 20 years, the advantages are too numerous. Most of the downsides are typically related to the inherent friction between onsite and the offsite workers, meaning companies that start out as remote-first w…

The biggest downside to me is decreasing the ways to make a friends and being social. I worked remote for about 8 months and I got bored seeing the same room in the day and the night. Of course not having a commute is an amazing thing and environmentally friendly, but I felt very disconnected from the world. I think once working from home is the norm something will have to exist to allow for meeting new people beside…

It makes a big difference how flexible your schedule is. I used to work from home and could take a few hours to see a museum/movie/etc in the middle of the week. Saving 5+ hours a week in commute time frees you up to be a lot more social as long as you actually leave the house regularly.

The flip side is I also had weeks when I never left the house or really spoke with anyone, but as long as that's not your normal schedule it's IMO not a big deal.

PS: I know some people who really got into online games with that schedule. An MMO is not quite a social life, but it's easier to maintain if your hours get wacky vs. the local culture.

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