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Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

economist.com

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Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#51

Post by Aaargh20318 »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #26

This "must be busy" mindset and 50+ hour work weeks is so utterly alien and wrong to me, and I'm glad I feel this way. I would never let a job get in the way of family and social experiences, in the way of my life . Relaxation and leisure time is absolutely non-negotiable for me, I would never give up on a concert or culinary experience or anything else for something as mundane as work. I think this mindset has also…

> I would never let a job get in the way of family and social experiences, in the way of my life.

For some people there is little choice. I have a limited mental budget for social experiences. Spending 40hr/week at the office already over-extends this budget, resulting in no social life whatsoever.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#52

Post by SomewhatLikely »

As long as there are marginal gains to be made from working an extra hour I don't see this changing. Imagine if one country decided to change from a 40 hour work week to a 20 hour work week. If this decreases their GDP from producing less output, then they become economically weaker, their standard of living in terms of purchasing power is diminished, and the tax base is decreased. I think the biggest reason we don't see more leisure time is the same reason wild animals don't see much leisure time: competition. At the international level, countries which produce more are more powerful, and at the domestic level other things being equal an individual who produces more will command a higher income, which translates to gaining a bigger slice of the economic pie and the additional power that confers. I suspect many of the people on hacker news could easily live on half the income they make, but we choose not to, because we prefer the extra affordances of working full time or more.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#53

Post by hliyan »

I'm of the opinion that the root of the problem is inflation (but I'm open to correction).

My thinking is that we're constantly being pushed to work harder because no business today can reach a successful steady-state -- it must keep growing. The reason businesses must keep growing is that investors demand it. Investors demand it because they believe that wealth sitting around not making more wealth is a waste. Inflation, I believe, is a big component of this view. What would happen if we keep inflation near-zero? Is slow growth really a bad thing?

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#54

Post by phkahler »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #26

This "must be busy" mindset and 50+ hour work weeks is so utterly alien and wrong to me, and I'm glad I feel this way. I would never let a job get in the way of family and social experiences, in the way of my life . Relaxation and leisure time is absolutely non-negotiable for me, I would never give up on a concert or culinary experience or anything else for something as mundane as work. I think this mindset has also…

My office recently moved across town so I started going in early to beat traffic. I also started leaving early. Leaving early felt strange until I made a conscious decision to embrace it as a sort of healthy difference between me and the others that stay until 5 or 6. Recently I've been slipping and staying longer for "work reasons". The negative impact on my drive and home life is obvious enough to get me back on track and out the door by 3 or 3:30.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#55

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

hliyan wrote: post #53

I'm of the opinion that the root of the problem is inflation (but I'm open to correction). My thinking is that we're constantly being pushed to work harder because no business today can reach a successful steady-state -- it must keep growing. The reason businesses must keep growing is that investors demand it. Investors demand it because they believe that wealth sitting around not making more wealth is a waste. Infla…

I agree that there are likely negative social consequences from inflation, but the idea that inflation is the reason a business can't reach a steady-state because of inflation seems to ignore Red Queen[1] like affects.

Something I've noticed a lot in tech is that companies will spend a huge amount of money to push new features that aren't core to the business and to launch new products that frequently fail. I've always viewed these as attempting to prevent competition from emerging rather than trying to compensate for inflation.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#56

Post by psyc »

marak830 wrote: post #43
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #26

This "must be busy" mindset and 50+ hour work weeks is so utterly alien and wrong to me, and I'm glad I feel this way. I would never let a job get in the way of family and social experiences, in the way of my life . Relaxation and leisure time is absolutely non-negotiable for me, I would never give up on a concert or culinary experience or anything else for something as mundane as work. I think this mindset has also…

I am the same as you, alas I cannot afford not to work the hours I do (for which I have copped quite a bit of flack on HN about). I do wonder why people who can afford to spend time with their family and not work 60-70 hours per week, actually do. I can only imagine it would be that they really enjoy their work that much, or their in a culture such as here in Japan where you stay until the boss leaves - or else. (Not…

I'm terrified of letting people into my life, and the biggest reason is I'm afraid they'll cut into my work time. Now, sure, there's probably a bunch of Freudian damage that's gone into this. But however I got this way, I am this way, and I don't mind.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#57

Post by collyw »

There is a lot more bureaucracy built into the systems we have to deal with these days as well (David Gaerber's "Utopia of Rules" is a good read on this).

I have a lot of stuff to do, and was kind of getting on top of it recently. I needed to renew my driving license here in Spain. I needed two appointments (trying to fit them around work). I have been given a temporary license for the time being and am waiting on the new one to be posted. I noticed that the temporary paper has my name spelled wrong, so there is a good chance I will need at least one more appointment just to get that typo fixed when the plastic version comes through.

I guess another factor is the changing nature of jobs. Certainly in IT you need to devote at least some time to keeping up with new tech or you will become obsolete. I find this especially frustrating when a lot of the "new" is just a rehash of stuff from 30 years ago. Its also why I hate fronted work, as the ecosystem is a constantly changing mess.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#58

Post by rufius »

hellofunk wrote: post #2

I'm always amazed how I end up seeing long threads from HN users who read an article, but when I click on it, there is a pay wall. Are all those readers subscribers to these news sites?

While there are ways to get around the paywall, the Economist is probably one of the few publications I’d say is absolutely worth paying for.

That said - a lot of folks have access to sites like NYT and WSJ through work.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#59

Post by phkahler »

marak830 wrote: post #43
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #26

This "must be busy" mindset and 50+ hour work weeks is so utterly alien and wrong to me, and I'm glad I feel this way. I would never let a job get in the way of family and social experiences, in the way of my life . Relaxation and leisure time is absolutely non-negotiable for me, I would never give up on a concert or culinary experience or anything else for something as mundane as work. I think this mindset has also…

I am the same as you, alas I cannot afford not to work the hours I do (for which I have copped quite a bit of flack on HN about). I do wonder why people who can afford to spend time with their family and not work 60-70 hours per week, actually do. I can only imagine it would be that they really enjoy their work that much, or their in a culture such as here in Japan where you stay until the boss leaves - or else. (Not…

>> I do wonder why people who can afford to spend time with their family and not work 60-70 hours per week, actually do.

I've found that being unhappy at home can lead to working late (even subconsciously). The thing is, these things are often related in subtle ways. If I were to over-generalize I might say that having poor boundaries is part of why they stay late, and a part of the problems they are avoiding at home.

Re: Why is everyone so busy? (2014)

#60

Post by phkahler »

psyc wrote: post #56
marak830 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the same as you, alas I cannot afford not to work the hours I do (for which I have copped quite a bit of flack on HN about). I do wonder why people who can afford to spend time with their family and not work 60-70 hours per week, actually do. I can only imagine it would be that they really enjoy their work that much, or their in a culture such as here in Japan where you stay until the boss leaves - or else. (Not…

I'm terrified of letting people into my life, and the biggest reason is I'm afraid they'll cut into my work time. Now, sure, there's probably a bunch of Freudian damage that's gone into this. But however I got this way, I am this way, and I don't mind.

>> But however I got this way, I am this way, and I don't mind.

You might want to work on that stuff before it catches up to you in ways you don't anticipate.

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