Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

science.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 212 posts

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#101

Post by Cyclone_ »

stringfood wrote: post #89
budududuroiu wrote: post #23

Haven't been in an office since the start of COVID. Between being lucky enough to have a great coliving setup with dope housemates, and now having access to co-working cafes in Taipei that have genuine communities, I feel more social than ever with more meaningful connections. I still commute to the cafes, for me remote working is about not having to be tied to a geographic spot in order to keep my source of income,…

The worst thing about office friends is they immediatley cease to be friends when you are laid off or change jobs, only maybe 2% do I actually stay in contact with, and frankly that is just because of the nostalgia I have of working with them and the networking benefits. Work friends are not friends. People you meet near your home and at your book club are more likely to stick around through the thick and thin. That…

You probably just never got to know them that well and did things outside of work with them. I've met people at the office and stayed in touch with them and hung out after they left or I left the company.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#102

Post by hdgvhicv »

Mwntalhwalth wrote: post #91

Wfh since long before covid (15 years) . It will 100% burn you out slowly while you think you are better and stronger than it. Feels good at the beginning likely b.c your current job is super toxic and your away from your boss but there are many factors largely due to isolation that will settle in. To survive wfh you need to concentrate heavily on early morning sunlight, walks throughout the day, yoga, acupuncture, b…

WFH since 2011, I don’t recognise your statement at all.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#104

Post by tpmoney »

stringfood wrote: post #89
budududuroiu wrote: post #23

Haven't been in an office since the start of COVID. Between being lucky enough to have a great coliving setup with dope housemates, and now having access to co-working cafes in Taipei that have genuine communities, I feel more social than ever with more meaningful connections. I still commute to the cafes, for me remote working is about not having to be tied to a geographic spot in order to keep my source of income,…

The worst thing about office friends is they immediatley cease to be friends when you are laid off or change jobs, only maybe 2% do I actually stay in contact with, and frankly that is just because of the nostalgia I have of working with them and the networking benefits. Work friends are not friends. People you meet near your home and at your book club are more likely to stick around through the thick and thin. That…

> Work friends are not friends.

This is reductive to the point of absurdity. Situational friends are still friends. How many of your elementary school friends are still your friends these days? High school? Summer camp? Heck college friends? Unless you're living in the same town with the same people, there's a good chance that most of them aren't anymore. Were these people also not your friends? When you leave that book club, when you stop showing up at the corner cafe, when you move out of the neighborhood, how many of those people will you still be spending time with 5 years later. For the ones that you aren't, were they also not really friends?

Friendship isn't a binary thing. Not every friend you make will help you bury a body, but not every friend or friendship needs to (or should) run that deep. And sure not everyone you're "friendly" with at work are friends, it's a spectrum. But situational friends are friends. People you bond with for a short while over a shared experience and then when life moves one or both of you on the friendship ends are still friends.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#106

Post by prmoustache »

tchalla wrote: post #42

> Our results suggest that remote work substantially increases isolation and worsens mental health, particularly for those living alone. Another angle - people don't know how to deal with isolation if not their work. Remote work has accelerated an aspect that we already knew existed. Social systems are tied ONLY around work which is not healthy.

This. I have seen people afraid of retiring because they didn't knew what to do next nor did they have hobbies and social life.

I have so many ideas I feel my problem would be to forget about somes.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#107

Post by prmoustache »

gbraad wrote: post #53
tchalla wrote: post #42

> Our results suggest that remote work substantially increases isolation and worsens mental health, particularly for those living alone. Another angle - people don't know how to deal with isolation if not their work. Remote work has accelerated an aspect that we already knew existed. Social systems are tied ONLY around work which is not healthy.

In most cultures "what do you do" is the first question that people ask, but answered with their job position in most Western countries. In most other places, people will respond with their current activity, or their hobby or even religion or believe. A lot of our culture revolves around work giving us meaning and satisfaction. And this is very obvious now due to recent layoffs and how people are affected in feeling/…

> but answered with their job position in most Western countries.

I think that is mostly a US thing.

Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WabD6tGz-Dc

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#108

Post by prmoustache »

joe_mamba wrote: post #73
gbraad wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in Asia, and do not experience that 'snobby western white collar' attitude here. It is seen as a polite form like "how's the weather", and answer like "just going to grab a snack", inviting others to join. Have worked with many people from different backgrounds due to an international/localization team and open source activities in Asia. And the name argument in a lot of places was a forced naming. In the Nether…

>I am in Asia, and do not experience that 'snobby western white collar' attitude here. Probably because Asia isn't much like "the west". >Have worked with many people from different backgrounds due to an international/localization team and open source activities in Asia. Well-off tech workers who travel to (or host) open source conferences around the world, are a selection bias of a niche within a niche, not represen…

> Probably because Asia isn't much like "the west".

OTOH the earth is not flat.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#109

Post by tpmoney »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #64
tchalla wrote: post #42

> Our results suggest that remote work substantially increases isolation and worsens mental health, particularly for those living alone. Another angle - people don't know how to deal with isolation if not their work. Remote work has accelerated an aspect that we already knew existed. Social systems are tied ONLY around work which is not healthy.

The people paid to be there aren’t your friends. They’re nominally “coworkers,” which is not a social relationship but a transactional one. The fact we’ve as a society replaced human social interaction with people acting a work persona for money is more sad than being lonely - this should be the state that is considered lonely. Being isolated in the way discussed is in my mind a process of reclamation to normal socia…

> The people paid to be there aren’t your friends. They’re nominally “coworkers,” which is not a social relationship but a transactional one.

You're getting paid to be friends with your co-workers? Or are you being paid to work, and work, like many other situations where multiple people gather and share experiences and spend time together are also places that people tend to form friendships in. You had friends in school that you stopped maintaining the friendship when you stopped attending school together I'm sure. Were those people not actually your friends? How long does a "social interaction" have to last, and over what distances before it becomes a "friendship" instead of a "transactional relationship"? If it ever ends was it never a real friendship? It's certainly possible to view every relationship you build with people that you share circumstances with as transactional relationships, but that to me seems like a good way to never actually build a friendship with anyone.

Re: Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

#110

Post by cladopa »

It is kind of ridiculous to link working from home to working alone, specially after the braindead strategy that was applied by politics on COVID, like forbidding going out in controlled groups, like you could do in Japan during COVID without problems.

Going out for a walk alone to the beach or the mountains was forbidden. It was so ridiculous. And of course I went out anyway and it was essential for my health and sanity.

I have been working from home for a long time. It gives me freedom. I don't have to waste hours moving most of the time, and time with friends and family that I choose.

When I worked in an office I had to spend one hour moving in and one moving out each day.

This study is equivalent to the drugs study done on caged rats. The caged rats being humans during pandemic.

It was discovered later that if you let the rats freedom and the ability to socialise they did not get as anxious as when caged and they did not look for drugs for escaping their miserable lives.

Post reply on HN