A Day in the Life of Americans • Hacker News Board

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#21

Post by bluquark » Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 11:18 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #19

trowawee wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't actually think your second point is correct on either a historical or practical level. Historically, humans had a lot of what would now be considered downtime, especially in certain societies. And practically, nothing actually "requires" that except for the fact that we've set up society in such a way to allow some people get to grow wildly wealthy on the backs on the labor of most of the people putting in th…

Fun fact: if you took all the income in the U.S. (labor + capital) and distributed it evenly, every adult person would make about $65,000. Quite comfortable, and maybe a big improvement on the status quo, but still "working stiff" territory. We still live in an era where America's protestant work ethic is relevant. Maybe that'll change decades from now, but we're still quite a ways away from being in a post-scarcity…

Do you remember your source? I'd be interested to see the breakdown.

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#22

Post by kasey_junk » Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 11:35 PM UTC

fogetti wrote: post #9

For me it's very strange to see that a huge portion of the population sleeps until 9am (and a big number even until 10am!). I worked in many countries before and in most workplaces you had to show up at least by 9. Of course there were some exceptions but in general that's how it was.

You have clearly worked in ‘white collar’ environments.

2-10 or 4-12 shifts frequently involve waking up at 9 or 10.

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#23

Post by rayiner » Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 11:39 PM UTC

bluquark wrote: post #21

rayiner wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: if you took all the income in the U.S. (labor + capital) and distributed it evenly, every adult person would make about $65,000. Quite comfortable, and maybe a big improvement on the status quo, but still "working stiff" territory. We still live in an era where America's protestant work ethic is relevant. Maybe that'll change decades from now, but we're still quite a ways away from being in a post-scarcity…

Do you remember your source? I'd be interested to see the breakdown.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobmcteer/2012/11/30/the-income...

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#24

Post by mancerayder » Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 11:41 PM UTC

charmides wrote: post #3

Seems like my sleeping patterns are a lot different than those of most other people. Also, I felt depressed to see that people spend most of their lives sleeping and working or in some transition thereof.

Even more suspicious or chore-seeming to those that are more productive during the evening, which studies recently suggest this could be how some of us are wired. There's this, I think Anglo-Saxon fixation on early mornings being where productive and good people do things.

Maybe a cultural byproduct of regions of the world with short, dark winter days?

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#25

Post by WalterBright » Fri, Sep 21, 2018, 11:50 PM UTC

floren wrote: post #18

40acres wrote: post #13

I wake up @ 4AM most days to get my work out in. Walking to the gym gives me a glimpse of a different America. It's mostly men, white guys in my city, they are all middle class looking dudes. Loading up trucks at the nearby grocery or beginning/ending their shift, maybe some security guards once in a while. There's some homeless people every once in a while but for the most part they don't seem to be active. There ar…

It's a wonderful time to be out driving on the streets. You often have even the biggest thoroughfares to yourself in a quiet world.

I used to go jogging in the wee hours. There was no traffic, it was cool, and very peaceful.

But after incidents of drunk drivers, people throwing things at me from a car, the cops giving me the once-over, and once hearing a shot fired, I decided it was best to give that up and jog like a normal person.

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#26

Post by irrational » Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 12:02 AM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #24

charmides wrote: post #3

Seems like my sleeping patterns are a lot different than those of most other people. Also, I felt depressed to see that people spend most of their lives sleeping and working or in some transition thereof.

Even more suspicious or chore-seeming to those that are more productive during the evening, which studies recently suggest this could be how some of us are wired. There's this, I think Anglo-Saxon fixation on early mornings being where productive and good people do things. Maybe a cultural byproduct of regions of the world with short, dark winter days?

That's me. I'm brain-dead in the mornings no matter how much sleep I have gotten. I'm extremely alert in the evenings. The evenings are definitely when I do my best thinking and best work.

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#27

Post by qubax » Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 12:32 AM UTC

charmides wrote: post #3

Seems like my sleeping patterns are a lot different than those of most other people. Also, I felt depressed to see that people spend most of their lives sleeping and working or in some transition thereof.

It the worst during winter. Wake up it's dark. Come home it's dark. Hello darkness my old friend...

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#28

Post by mmartinson » Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 12:54 AM UTC

40acres wrote: post #13

I wake up @ 4AM most days to get my work out in. Walking to the gym gives me a glimpse of a different America. It's mostly men, white guys in my city, they are all middle class looking dudes. Loading up trucks at the nearby grocery or beginning/ending their shift, maybe some security guards once in a while. There's some homeless people every once in a while but for the most part they don't seem to be active. There ar…

Curious, do you manage to fall asleep by 8 or 9? I'd love to get up early more regularly, but I find it tough up turn my mind off before the world quiets down.

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#29

Post by loganfrederick » Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 1:10 AM UTC

40acres wrote: post #13

I wake up @ 4AM most days to get my work out in. Walking to the gym gives me a glimpse of a different America. It's mostly men, white guys in my city, they are all middle class looking dudes. Loading up trucks at the nearby grocery or beginning/ending their shift, maybe some security guards once in a while. There's some homeless people every once in a while but for the most part they don't seem to be active. There ar…

Like everything else, there's a TED Talk on 4 AM: https://www.ted.com/talks/rives_on_4_a_m

Re: A Day in the Life of Americans

#30

Post by ghaff » Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 1:26 AM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #24

charmides wrote: post #3

Seems like my sleeping patterns are a lot different than those of most other people. Also, I felt depressed to see that people spend most of their lives sleeping and working or in some transition thereof.

Even more suspicious or chore-seeming to those that are more productive during the evening, which studies recently suggest this could be how some of us are wired. There's this, I think Anglo-Saxon fixation on early mornings being where productive and good people do things. Maybe a cultural byproduct of regions of the world with short, dark winter days?

One of the benefits I find with coming back from trips to Europe returning to the US East Coast is there's about a week where I'm tending to get up by 5AM or so. I slip back to a normal schedule but I really feel good getting a bunch of work done by 9AM or so. Can't really keep it up sans jetlag though.