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Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

theatlantic.com

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#11
post #3

Or you could exercise some control over your own life and not pay attention to Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Reddit, etc. Life is so horrible because work consists of reading Reddit instead of physical labor. Where's my flying car?

Physical labor was great because you didn't have to work then go to the gym separately. Left more leisure time.

And yet mortality rates worse and there was actually very little leisure time ... funny that ...

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#12
post #7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy it. You only need to workout about 30min a day, 3-4 times a week to stay in decent shape. Maybe an hour if you include prep and showering. That's only a few hours of your leisure time a week you might be missing out on...

The biggest difference is the leisure time that accrues to you by retirement. On top of having more money saved, you're almost certainly in much better physical shape than someone who engaged in physically demanding activity for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, for 40 years.

Have you seen professional acrobats? They look 15 years younger than they are.

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#13

Once I was a Marine combat engineer. We worked all day. Reveille starts at 06 and taps wasn't until 20, 21, or maybe even 24. There was a singular focus throughout the day: get shit done. That involved no computers, no phones, no digital distractions. Just blowing up stuff, building bridges, or moving boulders by hand. Physically draining work that at the end you try to somehow find a can of un-skunked beer to cheer…

Nowadays I code. I romanticize my job by equating it to writing love poems to an inanimate object

This is a great line.

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#14
post #12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest difference is the leisure time that accrues to you by retirement. On top of having more money saved, you're almost certainly in much better physical shape than someone who engaged in physically demanding activity for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, for 40 years.

Have you seen professional acrobats? They look 15 years younger than they are.

There's a tremendous difference between physical fitness and running your body into the ground through long days of extraordinarily difficult labor.

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#15

Once I was a Marine combat engineer. We worked all day. Reveille starts at 06 and taps wasn't until 20, 21, or maybe even 24. There was a singular focus throughout the day: get shit done. That involved no computers, no phones, no digital distractions. Just blowing up stuff, building bridges, or moving boulders by hand. Physically draining work that at the end you try to somehow find a can of un-skunked beer to cheer…

Unfortunately this can be said of a lot of tech work. I left my IT consulting job about 5 months ago to do a start-up.

I could never get used to how mentally exhausted I often felt after 12 hr days, yet at the end of the week could point to nothing of value that I produced.

The current work is draining but at least I am doing it to myself:)

If my start up fails, I might get a food truck and start selling portable lunches, maybe I'll enjoy that...lol

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#16

Once I was a Marine combat engineer. We worked all day. Reveille starts at 06 and taps wasn't until 20, 21, or maybe even 24. There was a singular focus throughout the day: get shit done. That involved no computers, no phones, no digital distractions. Just blowing up stuff, building bridges, or moving boulders by hand. Physically draining work that at the end you try to somehow find a can of un-skunked beer to cheer…

I'm thinking that the exhaustion had less to do with email or tech per se, but more to do with not having the authority to get shit done by actually solving problems. What I imagine with your Marine combat experience, is that you had access the to resources you needed, and it was your group's sole responsibility to get things done. In my career, the most draining positions I've had in the past are the ones where you can only fix symptoms, or peripheral problems and there is some long-term roadblock for me or the team to fully address problems.

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#17
I don't find email that much of a drain. I used to, when I was subscribed to a ton of mailinglists, but I cut down, and I skip a lot. I don't have to read everything. I tried to once; I tried to read all of usenet, then all of the web. And now, well, G+ and HN. And there I skip most too.

I read when I like. I don't need to check stuff constantly. I could have tons of free time if I just kept away from G+ and HN a bit more. And the stuff I read counts as leisure; maybe not the best way to spend my leisure time, but it's still leisure.

I don't think Keynes was all that wrong, really. I work 32 hours a week, and my son is the main thing that eats up my leisure time. People had more kids in the 1930s.

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#18
post #15

Once I was a Marine combat engineer. We worked all day. Reveille starts at 06 and taps wasn't until 20, 21, or maybe even 24. There was a singular focus throughout the day: get shit done. That involved no computers, no phones, no digital distractions. Just blowing up stuff, building bridges, or moving boulders by hand. Physically draining work that at the end you try to somehow find a can of un-skunked beer to cheer…

Unfortunately this can be said of a lot of tech work. I left my IT consulting job about 5 months ago to do a start-up. I could never get used to how mentally exhausted I often felt after 12 hr days, yet at the end of the week could point to nothing of value that I produced. The current work is draining but at least I am doing it to myself:) If my start up fails, I might get a food truck and start selling portable lun…

One common recommendation is to keep a journal of things you've done, so that you can look it over and acknowledge yourself. (It doesn't work for me, but it might work for you.)

Re: Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User

#20
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical labor was great because you didn't have to work then go to the gym separately. Left more leisure time.

I was never in so great shape as when I worked as a dishwasher. Bike to work (8 miles, rain / shine / snow), work damned hard, close and clean up the restaurant, bike home. Of course, I was making like 50X less than I do now. I was happy to have that job, but even happier to leave it for something that involved keyboards and air-conditioned machine rooms instead of scalding hot water and smelling like a dishrag durin…

If I could make the same money I do now washing dishes, I would take it in a heartbeat. I was in much better shape, and honestly, my job was more fulfilling I could point to and see real progress every night of work.
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