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The Shut-In Economy

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Re: The Shut-In Economy

#41

Post by wicker »

hoboon wrote: post #24

This is how I feel. I don't watch TV for hours like I did as a child. What I do now is worse; stay in doors programming, browsing the web aimlessly, or staring at the ceiling. I don't blame my internet lifestyle for this really, but I literally don't know what else to do and the internet is so accommodating to me being a shut-in. I know I'm wasting my life but I don't know how to stop. San Francisco is a beautiful ci…

I took a look at your previous submissions and I think you've already heard the advice I'd give. If you haven't already, I think it might be useful to contact your doctor and at least rule out the possibility of depression.

Depression isn't just an attitude, it's an actual chemical imbalance. It's something that happens to all kinds of people and investigating it might lead you to a fix. I've had periods where I've felt that lack of joy or interest and I wondered why I even bothered, but I got some help and now in retrospect I can tell it was terrible to live like that. At least talk to a doctor and bring up the possibility.

Tons of people around you struggle with the same thing even while they look so awesome and successful, especially if you're in the valley. I know it feels like you're totally alone but you're really not. At least investigate that your brain chemistry might be a little out of sorts.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#42

Post by zkhalique »

Think about all this specialization.

This is what a "good economy" looks like. Parents who work long hours so they can afford to rent some great apartment and buy stuff for their family. They outsource a lot of the childcare to professional nannies or whoever. They outsource a lot of the elder care to nursing homes etc. People are getting married later in life so they can focus on their career. Individualism, kids moving out early, trying to impress each other with great apartments etc.

We are materially richer, but what about the social connections?

Similarly with technology. Take birthdays, for example. On their birthday people used to get personal phone calls, possibly emails. Then facebook made it easy to just write "happy birthday" on someone's wall, and see who else wrote it. Then, to increase "engagement" (or the appearance thereof), they let you write a quick note right where the birthday reminder appeared, on the right-hand pane. Now you couldn't even see what others wrote, and sometimes would breeze through, personalizing the greetings slightly "Happy birthday girl! Older and sexier they say."

Now, people are complaining that they have to get through so many birthday wishes on their wall and write a semi-personalized "thanks" response to each one. So the remaining step is to make an app to automate this. So the end result is we'll have nearly automatic sending and nearly automatic thanking, basically robots talking to robots, while the whole experience of birthday wishes is automated away from humans.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#43

Post by copsarebastards »

hoboon wrote: post #24

This is how I feel. I don't watch TV for hours like I did as a child. What I do now is worse; stay in doors programming, browsing the web aimlessly, or staring at the ceiling. I don't blame my internet lifestyle for this really, but I literally don't know what else to do and the internet is so accommodating to me being a shut-in. I know I'm wasting my life but I don't know how to stop. San Francisco is a beautiful ci…

How about going on Couchsurfing and putting yourself up as a host? If you don't have the energy to go out into the world, you can get the world to come to you, all through the internet.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#44

Post by rtpg »

oh_sigh wrote: post #38
timepiece wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you make $50/hour, wait till commoditization hit your profession and see your wage dwindle before your own eyes.

Presumably the people delivering groceries or doing someone elses laundry weren't making $50/hour in the same profession at some earlier point in their career.

but at least they had a tad more job security and weren't being misclassified as contractors (so had less tax burden)

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#45

Post by oh_sigh »

rtpg wrote: post #44
oh_sigh wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the people delivering groceries or doing someone elses laundry weren't making $50/hour in the same profession at some earlier point in their career.

but at least they had a tad more job security and weren't being misclassified as contractors (so had less tax burden)

But these jobs just didn't exist(unless you count full time maids for example), so it doesn't make sense to talk about job security or whether they were contractors or not.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#46

Post by copsarebastards »

zkhalique wrote: post #42

Think about all this specialization. This is what a "good economy" looks like. Parents who work long hours so they can afford to rent some great apartment and buy stuff for their family. They outsource a lot of the childcare to professional nannies or whoever. They outsource a lot of the elder care to nursing homes etc. People are getting married later in life so they can focus on their career. Individualism, kids mo…

All of which is why I walked away from the whole charade that is Facebook. Frankly, fuck that noise. Facebook added nothing to my life. I have the same number of friends as I had when I was Facebook but now I know who they are.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#47

Post by mindslight »

tsotha wrote: post #20

>So here’s the big question. What does she, or you, or any of us do with all this time we’re buying? Binge on Netflix shows? Go for a run? Van Ekert’s answer: “It’s more to dedicate more time to working.” Meh. It's specialization. It's been happening since everyone figured out Og makes better clubs than everyone else and he'll make you one if you give him food. Most of the people reading this site have a skill that b…

Making $50/hour while spending $25/hour (figure thrown out in the article) is breaking even because there is a 50% transaction fee on your earnings. Furthermore, the proceeds are used to fund mayhem and misery both domestically and abroad so you're increasing your responsibility for that as well.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#48

Post by copsarebastards »

anigbrowl wrote: post #2

Van Ekert’s answer: “It’s more to dedicate more time to working.” With the arrival of every functionary serving as a reminder of what could happen if you slow down your pace on the treadmill. This article makes me glad I don't live in SF any more.

There's an episode of the show Black Mirror that makes this very very obvious.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#49

Post by ajcarpy2005 »

hoboon wrote: post #24

This is how I feel. I don't watch TV for hours like I did as a child. What I do now is worse; stay in doors programming, browsing the web aimlessly, or staring at the ceiling. I don't blame my internet lifestyle for this really, but I literally don't know what else to do and the internet is so accommodating to me being a shut-in. I know I'm wasting my life but I don't know how to stop. San Francisco is a beautiful ci…

Supplemental MSM,5-htp, L-Theanine, Magnesium, NAC, and Alpha Lipoic Acid

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#50

Post by krschultz »

timepiece wrote: post #22
tsotha wrote: post #20

>So here’s the big question. What does she, or you, or any of us do with all this time we’re buying? Binge on Netflix shows? Go for a run? Van Ekert’s answer: “It’s more to dedicate more time to working.” Meh. It's specialization. It's been happening since everyone figured out Og makes better clubs than everyone else and he'll make you one if you give him food. Most of the people reading this site have a skill that b…

Now you make $50/hour, wait till commoditization hit your profession and see your wage dwindle before your own eyes.

If that day comes, who will be better prepared, those that cleaned their own toilets, or those that used that time for something more productive?
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