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South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

reuters.com

161–170 of 190 posts

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ask Google, there are others who have reported on this before Reuter. * sep, 2018 https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/prison-providing-... * feb, 2018 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/south-korea-overwork-culture-j... * 2014 https://www.wsj.com/video/want-a-break-from-stress-send-your... Of course most people haven't heard of it. It is basically a gimmicky take on a silent retreat and there is only 1. I'm su…

Just because Google results show you a thing, doesn't make that thing accurate, but merely prevalent and reduplicated in an index.

These are not reduplications of an index.

These are links to independent sources reporting on the same thing over several years.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#162

I'm not sure why I'd want to pay someone else for this when I can do the same thing at home by unplugging my internet for a day.

People can also swap houses with a friend for a day or two. Any time my girlfriend needs to concentrate, she comes over to my house where she's afraid to touch my electronics and synthesizers ;)

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#163

Question for South Koreans here: Is this real or is this report just the usual exaggeration by western media? Asking because Reuter’s has a biased reporting for anything related to India, and I’m wondering if they have a similar lens / filter for South Korea. (I’m from India in US)

Reuters also has a history of bad reporting wrt Japan, at least as far as I'm concerned. They often translate things incorrectly and lead with conclusions based on that mistranslation. They are not the only ones on my "usually biased news" list, though. The Japan Times often picks up stories from the Yomiuri Shinbun, which are questionable in nature and translates them. These are then often picked up by the BBC. What…

Let me make something abundantly clear to you: There is no news outlet in existence that is free from bias. Not NPR, not BBC, not NBC, none of them. None. NONE. Zero. 0%.

"News" at this moment in time is either propaganda or advertising and has nothing at all to do with any high-minded "un-biased" attempt to report information to a mass audience. You are their product--they wish to shape your mind and allow their paid for agenda to be promoted through you. You are on your own for finding out real, useful information.

I suppose there are a few feel-good human interest stories about cats out there that aren't biased, however, the bias there is that those stories exist to sell ads to people who like soft stories--lacking the market for the ads, there would be no soft stories.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#164
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been living in Korea for many years. I have never heard about it. I asked my Korean colleagues about it. They have never heard about it and they think that it is weird.

Do people actually think they'll die if they sleep with the fan on? Thats pretty weird to me.

>Do people actually think they'll die if they sleep with the fan on? Thats pretty weird to me.

There are people that legitimately believe Earth is flat.

For something less crazy, people were wearing surgical masks in photos of the California fires the past few weeks. They are wholly ineffective, a proper respirator with the appropriate filter is needed to make any impact on the air quality.

More oft than not people will readily accept something as fact without questioning it at all. There are countless YouTube videos that prey upon this, like the 'DIY drone phone case' and the videos with people alleging 'make diamonds with peanut butter and coal'.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#165
post #55
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously, not all South Koreans are locking themselves up. This is just an unusual hotel that helps people get away from everyday life and stop being tied to their smartphones for a while. You could remove all references to South Korea, and the business model still looks interesting. I suspect it could work just as well in Japan, or even in the West as a modern alternative to a monastery.

Why not just go to a monastery? It's just as structured, but with better food, scenery and the meditation/prayer/spirituality element helps when you return to civilisation.

I've done this here in the U.S. before. I'm not Catholic but Saint Meinrad Archabbey is 2-3 hours south of me here in Indiana. I was getting really burnt out from lots of OT and had been talking to someone I know that used to be a Catholic monk, he did some searching and reached out to St. Meinrad and arranged for me to stay there for a few days.

It was great. The monks basically left me alone, I had a small private room with no television or radio, there were common areas where people would quietly talk, I just sat around enjoying calm and quiet. Eventually one of the monks got brave enough to come over and ask me what was up haha which was also great because I had a very interesting conversation with him about life in general and then he suggested I talk to the Friar that was the director of the guest part of the archabbey which I did and had an interesting few hour conversation about ancient Greek, Latin, early Catholic church popes, art. It was great.

I think people really need to experience stuff like this be it the way I did it, the way the article has it or just going to a 'quiet retreat' or some such.

Our lives are over-saturated with things screaming for our attention.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#167
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most news, there's quite a bit of truth, with a bit of "hook" to draw the reader in. South Korean study culture, especially to get into University, bass a bar exam or get a public service job is really quite unreal. There are blocks of "prison" like apartments with surrounding quiet zones in many areas. They exist simply so people can escape home life and study 24/7 (mostly rote memorization exercises) in order…

> Many companies simply just waste employee time making them sit around or do busy work in order to appear that they're actively engaged in business activities. Incredibly true. When I worked there, I had to literally sit at my desk until 8pm despite being done with work by 6 simply because 8pm for my office was the “end of working hours.” Then off to a Soju-fueled dinner with coworkers whether you wanted to or not w…

Saw the same thing in Japan during my two years there. In Japan this is known as "mizu shobai", literally the "water trade". Business deals in Japan are largely made over drinks and snacks after work. The bars are literally packed to the gills with "salarymen" until well into the night, only to repeat the next day. It's brutal.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#168

This is a particularly effective submarine advertisement.

After having finally gone aboard U-505 recently after 2 decades of wanting to, and having a half-brother that has his dolphins, I've been hardcore wanting to become fantastically wealthy and order a sub or just create a faux-sub as a house.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#169

I am a bit confused by this, "South Koreans worked 2,024 hours in 2017." That does seem demanding but I am not sure how the US wouldn't be ranked higher where the minimum for full time employment is 2,080 hours a year. Can anyone clarify?

Can I know how you got that number? Presuming you work 37.5 hours per week which should be the minimum fulltime labor amount at 5 days times 7.5 hours per week. 2080 divided by 37.5 is about 55 weeks, while there is only 52 weeks in a year. If you count it as 40 hrs per week then it is 52 weeks but people usually don't count the extra half hour which is usually a break but that could be your number. This is probably…

>Can I know how you got that number? Presuming you work 37.5 hours per week

I've never had a non-retail job with paid breaks. I work 40 hours a week, minimum, with my 30 minute lunch off the clock.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Demanding? 2024 hours per year is 40 hours per week with two weeks off, or 41 hours with three weeks off. On average.

Which is not a lot of vacation and way too much work.

>Which is not a lot of vacation and way too much work.

Um, the average American worker gets 10 days of vacation a year and many get far less than that.

Many many many Americans work holidays too, I just worked my 13th Thanksgiving in a row.

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