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The Shut-In Economy

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Re: The Shut-In Economy

#241
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…

This was me 10 years ago. I got rid of my cell phone and got rid of internet service at my house. I had to go to a local coffee shop. After a month or so of regularly going I met some people. I also took up racquetball and jiu-jitsu. Getting rid of internet service and a cell phone saved my life. At least in my opinion. These are suggestions for you but maybe someone for whom your comment resonates with will get a he…

+1 jiu jitsu.

aside from being great mental and physical exercise, you will make friends from completely different walks of life, which is a good thing.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blue Apron maybe?

That's the one! $60/week for three meals for two. More expensive than groceries but cheaper than dining out! The meals take about 20-30 minutes to prepare and cook. It's been working for us.

For me, that's barely cheaper than eating out, if at all. The portions are always big enough for two people - unhealthily so.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#243
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, abundant choice can paralyze. For me it has to do with opportunity costs. Take a strawberry milkshake instead of banana, no biggie if it tastes bad. Take a career path and end up regretting it, and it's a really big deal, usually. And even if your career path wasn't a bad choice per se, again, opportunity cost, perhaps the alternative had been much better. At the end of the day you just have to choose, tr…

> Not sure what it's like in the US but in the Netherlands at age 11 you get tested and go to a certain level of secondary school. Wow, that sounds really f*-ed up! I always thought most places were like Slovenia (or UK is similar, if I understand correctly), where the main decision point is only at 18-19, when you're choosing your university! (The earlier is at 14-15, between a "gymnasium" - general-purpose school -…

I'm originally from the UK and, while you are correct that university at ~18 is usually the point-of-no-return, "high prestige" universities often have significant expectations on performance within a predefined set of subjects (at least within engineering) during the admissions process.

It would be very challenging for someone lacking the above-average levels of interest/talent in relevant fields at the age of 16 (spurring them to take related college-level courses) to get into a prestigious STEM course - outwith extraordinary circumstance.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#244
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, abundant choice can paralyze. For me it has to do with opportunity costs. Take a strawberry milkshake instead of banana, no biggie if it tastes bad. Take a career path and end up regretting it, and it's a really big deal, usually. And even if your career path wasn't a bad choice per se, again, opportunity cost, perhaps the alternative had been much better. At the end of the day you just have to choose, tr…

> Not sure what it's like in the US but in the Netherlands at age 11 you get tested and go to a certain level of secondary school. Wow, that sounds really f*-ed up! I always thought most places were like Slovenia (or UK is similar, if I understand correctly), where the main decision point is only at 18-19, when you're choosing your university! (The earlier is at 14-15, between a "gymnasium" - general-purpose school -…

Yup so we have that system like Slovenia too only it's a little bit earlier. You go to a level of secondary school at age 12, based on a test at age 11.

I personally got a maximum score of 550/550 on this test which gets you into 'gymnasium'. If you get below 545 you go to a middle-level education (will let you go to university of applied sciences, to become e.g. a marketing manager, teacher, physical therapist etc). Below 530 you do to the lower-level education (for lack of a better word), to train to become e.g. hairdresser or cook.

Anyway I got 550 but still went to middle-level as per a teachers' recommendation. (typical minimal effort maximum score kid). Later ended up still going to uni but it's a path with various hurdles and detours.

Frustrating in hindsight that this decision happens so early in life when you don't quite grasp the implications of educational & class differences, and at an age where the notion of becoming someone who volunteers in an animal shelter is way more interesting than to become a data scientist. As you grow up you realize the social stratification brought about by educational differences.

And then on top, indeed, you choose a certain flavor of high school. You get 2 years of general purpose stuff. Everyone gets both Physics and Math, as well as French and Art History, etc. But then the 3-4 years after, you choose one or the other. That's at age 14ish. And so even if you do gymnasium and everyone can go to uni, you're not going to be able to apply for medicine for example if you didn't do 6 years of physics in secondary school.

There's a lot of talk to change it. In fact I think Finland just removed the concept of 'subjects' altogether. Which is a radical thing to do, and takes a lot of effort and rethinking and reshaping of education. But it could be brilliant. Here they're talking about making secondary school a bit more general purpose, as the huge push for 'career planning' sessions for 12 and 16 year olds isn't enough to let them make informed decisions about what they'll be studying at age 20, and working in at age 30 or 40. Beyond that all of education is shifting away from skills, and towards competencies. So that if you teach 'self-learning', someone who spent 5 years in marketing can shift to become a programmer, if the economy changes. At least that's the general idea. It's a lot harder but competencies are definitely more valuable and important than skills (which become redundant as tech changes, e.g. being a skilled typewriter) in the long-term.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#245

I guess call me crazy, but I really enjoy chores. They aren't always pleasent, but they are a diversion. I can listen to NPR podcasts while grocery shopping. I catch up on the "Stuff you should know" podcast while cleaning and vacuuming my apartment. And I enjoy a walk around the area in the evenings when the weather is nice out. The diversions are where I can really think. I often have too many distractions at the c…

Yup. I don't even think of them as chores. I mean, maybe cleaning, but grocery shopping? I enjoy that shit. I'm too anal retentive to let someone else pick out my produce. Aside from that, if you're in a city why do you even need these services? Are these people so glued to their work that they can't take 30 minutes out of the day to walk to the grocery store and pick up a few items? This article was very sad to read…

that couple situation, whether imaginery or not, seemed almost desperate - she comes home at 9, he at 1 am. This might work for years (it would be a sad story if they had kids in this regime though), until something changes and they end up having more time for each other. Who they discover living with might be pleasant or nasty surprise...

This might be just me, but being in relationship is always a strong bond for me, that works only if both parties have similar attitude towards each other and can actually be present in the relationship.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#246
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah no not at all, work isn't really a big driver for me at the moment so I tend not to feel guilty about it. I do feel I should do something more ambitious. So my brother for example keeps telling me to just get a job at a coffeeshop, go out and meet new people through work again. My bills are such that I easily could, but in that case I'd feel like I'd be wasting my time and should be doing something productive. I d…

This is personal experience talking: there's a close to 100% chance you're clinically depressed. Try speaking with your girlfriend about it if you need some encouraging to try to work on it. I stopped pursuing treatment for about 4-5 years and really wish that I had that time back. The way you describe having fun when you get out but not pursuing it yourself describes the way I used to be perfectly. It gets comfortin…

Thanks

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#247
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds rough! Would you like some random suggestions on what to do tonight based on projections from my personal life and experience?

Sure I would.

Okay, here's some suggestions. Test them out and see what happens I guess. Frankly, I have no idea what will happen if you do them:

1) Take a random amount of money... $25...$50... research and donate it to a charity you think is cool. Pick one and do it. Like now.

2) Are you in your house right now? Still on your computer? Go outside and walk around. It doesn't have to be supremely interesting or perfect.

3) Go to a coffeeshop or other place you can sit. Get a drink. Stare at the wall without your computer. Try not to be productive. Drink your coffee. You are not allowed to be productive.

4) The book "Feeling Good" helped me immensely.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? In TO I spend about $70/week and I eat pretty healthy. Salmon, avocados, lentils, eggs, salad, yogurt, apples, milk, chicken, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc. Edit: I also only buy humane meat, and organic eggs.

Humane meat, that's the one where they don't kill the animals, right? :p

I assume you're the one that downvoted me.

You're either a vegetarian or meat eater that thinks the whole thing is silly. I don't know which, but there are real differences. For example:

http://certifiedhumane.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Std09.Chi...

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, online services are also actual interactions with other people, much of the time. They are interactions based on telecommunications, computing, display and sound reproducing technologies, etc, and they are one way to have contact with other people. "Real-world" interactions are also involve mediums: sound waves traveling in air, eyesight dependent on presence of visible light frequencies. Physical phenomenons l…

I am sorry to say but you're so wrong... human interaction is not only accoustic and touch-based, but also visual, which takes most of sensory signal feed to brain (correct me if I am wrong here). If you shun away from human interaction, that's fine. But be honest to yourself and don't say few clicks/strokes of keyboard are similar to having a decent talk with anybody. Heck, even video conf call is miles away from re…

Interaction in the same room is not the same as on-line interaction, of course; but it is not better in all ways. Many ways, yes, but not all. In some ways, humans interacting over (e.g.) a computer are faring better.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#250
"Mallon is a 26-year-old in New York City who works as a branding sales consultant to tech companies, regularly working from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. "

What? Who the hell thinks this is healthy? This person is literally filling all their waking life with work. Even if you love the shit out of your job, you're neglecting your mental and physical health by working that long. (And in all likelihood, she doesn't love the shit out her job. You'll be pressed to find just one person on Earth who'd be happy spending every hour of their day "branding". And I'm a marketing manager!)

And it's not like this person doesn't have other options. She makes enough money to live in a fancy San Francisco apartment and hire on-demand services to do everything. So she's making bank. But all that money's just going to keep up an expensive lifestyle that she doesn't even have time to enjoy.

I just hope she's got a plan. Maybe save as much as possible and retire early. Otherwise, what is she doing with her life?

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