Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
1–10 of 175 posts
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#2Article conflates digital nomadism with remote working in general.
Remote work allows you to work from a space you control, eliminate commute and allows you to be able to walk around to clear your head without feeling guilty for not being in your seat.
You could use it to travel, but I figure that would be a harder lifestyle and is not synonymous with “remote work”.
The author did try working from home but the damage to his mental health had been done I guess. I have the benefit of using IRC for the majority of my social interaction for the better part of my life. I guess the author is missing face-to-face contact already by that point though.
Also, I did something similar to what the author did, took a one way flight to Helsinki from my home town Coventry in the UK.
No friends, no family, no support structure. Only the promise of a job. It was some of the best time in my life. I was able to live as I wanted to live and present myself as me without any baggage holding me back. It was wonderful.
Although, I did make more of an effort to really meet people- I went to pubs in Helsinki and spoke to locals and asked about their history and language and despite what you hear about the Finns; the ones I met were truly very friendly.
All I’m saying is that: “your experience may vary”
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#3Article conflates digital nomadism with remote working in general. Remote work allows you to work from a space you control, eliminate commute and allows you to be able to walk around to clear your head without feeling guilty for not being in your seat. You could use it to travel, but I figure that would be a harder lifestyle and is not synonymous with “remote work”. The author did try working from home but the damage…
I absolutely agree with you on this.
When I had an office as a graduate student and then consultant, adjunct faculty, and other positions, I was almost never in my office.
I simply could not focus on work there the same way as elsewhere. I'm a highly social extrovert and in order to get things done that don't involve directly interacting with people, I "introvert myself". If someone comes to chat with me they snap me out of that mode and it's almost impossible for me to get back in.
I find libraries, coffee shops, empty offices to be the best places for me.
But remote != digital nomadism despite the 2 being able to go together.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#4This article isn't about remote work, but being a social hermit.
In my experience, if you have difficulty making and sustaining friendships without the heightened social context of a dorm floor/office water cooler, then you're going to wind up experiencing a bit of cabin fever when you are removed from those environments.
I had to make conscious efforts to go out, make friends and do things outside work when I moved away and lived on my own. You're responsible for your own mental health, not your company.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#5This applies most if you're a single-ish young-ish person without a highly established personal life outside of work. IMO this is a good message to put out since that's a lot of the crowd being recruited for these positions. When you're in that spot in life you're trying to "figure it out", and the message that you'd be free of any ties to a physical office is pushed very romantically and can be very confusing for establishing an overall life for yourself. It's helpful to know the other side of the coin so young prospective employees can make the choice that's best for both employee and employer.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#6> traveling remote workers
Whoa digital nomads by definition choose loneliness, whether they work or not.
As for the rest , i think the answer is pretty obvious: coworking apartment complexes similar to those dorm rooms but for adults. We need such spaces anyway , with the rise of people living alone and aging alone. It s time for cities to adapt to our needs rather than the reverse for once, because remote working is not going away. Its good for workers, good for business, good for the environment, good for competition, bad for visas and bad for rent seekers.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#7This article isn't about remote work, but being a social hermit. In my experience, if you have difficulty making and sustaining friendships without the heightened social context of a dorm floor/office water cooler, then you're going to wind up experiencing a bit of cabin fever when you are removed from those environments. I had to make conscious efforts to go out, make friends and do things outside work when I moved…
I have no trouble making and sustaining friendships with or without an office, in fact only one of my (former) co-workers is an actual friend.
Regardless, something about the isolation of working from home for anything more than a day here or there is just too mentally harmful for me. A much lesser form of solitary confinement, I suppose. Even going out and doing things after work every single day is no cure. I've tried it on and off over the past decade, with and without a co-habitating girlfriend. With and without pets. I've tried working from coffee shops, working from parks, co-working spaces, etc.
For some it's not a matter of needing the office for friends, some people just need the office environment itself. Something about being there "in the shit" with your team, best I can tell, rings that mental bell.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#8And here I was getting excited about the benefits of async communications with remote working from another article today:
https://doist.com/blog/asynchronous-communication/
Solitude, "time alone with ones thoughts" or personal time is not everyones cup of tea, but depending on the individual, if thats your wheelhouse, the lack of distractions is priceless in regards to productivity.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#9I bet he is right that its harder for younger people. Having a family means having a routine built-in, you take your kids to school and go pick them up always at the same hour, play a bit, make dinner, bedtime, etc.
For younger people, maybe going to the gym almost every day? I bet that there are shared workspaces with people in the same situation in a lot of large cities at least.
Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace
#10Article conflates digital nomadism with remote working in general. Remote work allows you to work from a space you control, eliminate commute and allows you to be able to walk around to clear your head without feeling guilty for not being in your seat. You could use it to travel, but I figure that would be a harder lifestyle and is not synonymous with “remote work”. The author did try working from home but the damage…
Agreed re conflating. I predominantly work from home, out of a custom built office in the corner of my garden. I tend to get up early and spend a few hours goofing around with the family before starting work. I take short breaks throughout the day to play with my son, eat lunch with my wife or go for a stroll. I also tend to go in the company's office on average once a week to get my dose of water cooler chats and group pizzas. This setup is a near-perfect fit for me in terms of productivity, work-life balance and mental health.