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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

#61

Post by jdminhbg »

buckbova wrote: post #42
bryanlarsen wrote: post #5

Meanwhile 56% of people who work or study in Copenhagen commute by bicycle.

I doubt they have the hills I have to contend with. I don't want to show up to work drenched in sweat.

For random comparison...

Copenhagen: http://en-us.topographic-map.com/places/Copenhagen-8017438/

Pittsburgh, PA: http://en-us.topographic-map.com/places/Pittsburgh-800970/

San Francisco, CA: http://en-us.topographic-map.com/places/San-Francisco-92496/ (note that the entire scale of the Copenhagen map fits in the bottom 1/6 of the SF map)

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

#62

Post by michaelchisari »

jonheller wrote: post #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 scal…

I don't know if I'll ever work remotely again for a company that is out of town. I'm currently in an office regularly, so I can appreciate working from home, but I'll only do so if the office is in town. I don't mind getting in my car and going in when needed, but I don't like having to hop on a plane.

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

#63

Post by buckbova »

ge96 wrote: post #52

I wish I didn't feel in the way when riding a bicycle on the road. So I walk instead. Oh well. Then my next fear is being confronted by strangers asking for a lighter then money. It's not so bad though, I just feel anxious to be encountered.

> my next fear is being confronted by strangers

Don't make eye contact, eyes straight ahead, walk with a purpose.

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

#64

Post by dkarl »

wrigby wrote: post #24
jonheller wrote: post #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 scal…

I'm relatively extroverted, and I can relate to your experience really well after working from home for the last year. The isolation and lack of human interaction can be downright depressing, and I've been led productive than ever. I'm curious to know if people with families have a different experience with it than single people. I'm a single guy in my mid 20's, and I suspect that if I was married and had kids at hom…

In my experience, it can be hard. For some people, it's easy to emotionally accept that you have to be gone at work all day but very hard to process the fact that you're right there and can't always instantly turn off and interact with them. Your family/SO needs to feel like you care about them, and you need to be able to settle comfortably into work without feeling like you're going to be interrupted constantly. It's a really knotty problem.

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

#65

Post by dkarl »

wrigby wrote: post #24
jonheller wrote: post #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 scal…

I'm relatively extroverted, and I can relate to your experience really well after working from home for the last year. The isolation and lack of human interaction can be downright depressing, and I've been led productive than ever. I'm curious to know if people with families have a different experience with it than single people. I'm a single guy in my mid 20's, and I suspect that if I was married and had kids at hom…

In my experience, it can be hard. For some people, it's easy to emotionally accept that you have to be gone at work all day but very hard to process the fact that you're right there and can't always instantly turn off and interact with them. Your family/SO needs to feel like you care about them, and you need to be able to settle comfortably into work without feeling like you're going to be interrupted constantly. It's a really knotty problem.

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

#66

Post by buckbova »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #59
buckbova wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt they have the hills I have to contend with. I don't want to show up to work drenched in sweat.

Aarhus has hills and a 48% bike share.

Looks like not much over a couple hundred feet and Copenhagen is flat as a pancake.

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

#67

Post by gerbilly »

RobertoG wrote: post #54
paulcole wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I consider myself, without doubt, to be an introvert. I hate parties with a passion Those aren't necessarily connected in the way that many people like to assert with such conviction. Many introverts (like me!) love parties and hanging out with friends.

serious question: what means to be an introvert then?

One definition I've heard is that introverts become fatigued when they have too much social interaction.

Extraverts on the other hand get energized by social interaction.

(Social interaction requires a lot of processing.)

Why ? It may be related to an organism's baseline of arousal.

The idea is that extraverts may have a lower baseline arousal rate, that they enjoy raising by interacting socially.

Introverts have a high baseline level of arousal, which gets raised too far by too much social interaction.

It is thought that extraverts are the majority making up 85% of the population, and introverts 15%.

This would explain why open office plans are the norm.

Ironically introverts often self select for work that requires deep focus, and end up having to do it in open plan offices designed by extraverts who see nothing wrong with that.

This is a good book on the topic: https://www.amazon.ca/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/d...

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

#68

Post by bphogan »

xeromal wrote: post #9
Androider wrote: post #6

"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…

I think you hit the nail on the head here - there are lots of folks who view work as a way to be social and make friends. I wonder if a lot of it stems from the fact that sometimes you have to relocate for a new gig, and making friends at work is easier. I suppose it's also good to have friends at work when times are tough.

That's never fit my definition of work though. Work is where I go to work, to get stuff done with motivated people. I mean, I'll be friendly with coworkers, sure... but I didn't necessariliy choose them. Kinda like highschool or college - these people are around because they were placed there. A friend of mine called this "Friends of geographical convenience" once. I have lots of people I get along with at work... but would I invite them to my daughter's wedding? A child's graduation? Would I loan them money if they were desperate? Would I help them move? Could I count on them to help me in troubled times? Probably not, cos people move on from jobs pretty quick. Work friends are kinda like Facebook friends. My real friends and I share more common interests than just computering. ;)

That said, I do have a couple of friends I met through work. But that's different than using work to find friends, I think.

Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Just thinking out loud I suppose.

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

#69

Post by rlglwx »

s73ver wrote: post #37

The biggest hurdle to biking and walking, for those who are already comfortable doing those activities, is showering. I don't want to show up to the office drenched in sweat, making the work area smell like a gym. And there are some things that you can do, like the wipes and that, but they don't feel anything like a shower. The more offices that either put in showers, or locate near gyms and places that do have showe…

You don't have to bike like a madman when you commute. You can bike at a moderate pace 10-12 mph (roughly 4x walking) pace and not break a sweat.

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

#70

Post by csa »

RobertoG wrote: post #54
paulcole wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I consider myself, without doubt, to be an introvert. I hate parties with a passion Those aren't necessarily connected in the way that many people like to assert with such conviction. Many introverts (like me!) love parties and hanging out with friends.

serious question: what means to be an introvert then?

A common plain-language definition of "introvert" used by professionals is that introverts "are more often energized from their quiet time than their social time"[1]. Extroverts are the opposite. Note that introversion and extroversion are on a continuum with most people in the general population (maybe not a specific population) being towards the middle.

Three comments to address your question specifically:

1. Note the "more often" in the definition. It isn't "always". As such, sometimes introverts are energized by their social time.

2. Given the spectrum of extroversion and introversion, some folks may be less extreme and therefore exhibit less stereotypical behavior for their archetype.

3. Extreme introversion (or extroversion) is not perceived as being pathological until it "causes impairment in functioning and/or causes significant distress for the individual" [ibid]. This might be in the form of detachment that has some surface level similarities to being an extreme introvert, but is actually quite different.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/self-promotion-introver...

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