Earlier quoted context omitted.
In more developed countries we have laws that protect workers for such long hours.
And those are clearly working, right?
Looking around... yes. It's working fine.
The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
71–80 of 91 posts
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#72Why do people sacrifice their lives for their work? It doesn't make any sense.
For some folks, work is their life. It's the measuring stick by which they are defined, so they make it their sole goal.
In the past, they were workaholics. Now they're just considered to be "passionate".
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#73I've done various commutes in my working life. Nothing beats being able to walk to work: 1) It's not too far, 2) It's exercise - what's not to like? 3) It's always, ALWAYS, the same length of time. Which allows you to plan. 4) It's not too far. My least favourite commute is on the British motorways, one day it could take the minimum amount of time, the next it could be 4 times longer. This amount of variation adds to…
cycling is a close second. i used to live close enough to walk daily (~ 18min walk). i did it every day, through the chicago winters.
we moved slightly farther so it is closer to a ~ 30m walk, and now cycling is more efficient since it is closer to ~ 12m.
i agree that people vastly underestimate the value of this in their lives. (you have to experience it to know what you're missing)
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#74How is this new? This is the sort of thing the wealthy and the C-suite have been doing for decades. The internet makes parts of it a little easier, but it's not novel. The whole conceit of the Concorde was Executives could live in New York and work in London or vice versa.
This is not just a 1% phenomenon. There are plenty of families where one partner commutes 2-3 hours each way on the greyhound bus because they can't find a job in the same town and can't afford to live on a single income.
The examples in this article kind of are a 1% phenomenon. They are an active choice made by the commuters to spend a lot on airfare and (presumably pricey) accommodations, rather than just relocating their family to similarly luxurious accommodations closer to their workplace.
In your example, you're talking about people for whom the choice of living closer never presents itself, due to unaffordability.
The former is a luxury choice, the latter is a forced circumstance.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#75What an odd sentence in the article: "But a more child-centered approach to parenting also seems to be a factor, as these executives make other major sacrifices in order to balance their professional and home lives." I would argue that not having a parent at home in the evening (because they are commuting) is the opposite of child-centric. Yes, they get a nice suburban home and parks, but what about parental bonding?
The whole term is ridiculous: > a more child-centered approach to parenting What other approaches to parenting are there? Cat-oriented?
A parent-centered approach to parenting.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#76What an odd sentence in the article: "But a more child-centered approach to parenting also seems to be a factor, as these executives make other major sacrifices in order to balance their professional and home lives." I would argue that not having a parent at home in the evening (because they are commuting) is the opposite of child-centric. Yes, they get a nice suburban home and parks, but what about parental bonding?
The whole term is ridiculous: > a more child-centered approach to parenting What other approaches to parenting are there? Cat-oriented?
A parent-centered approach to parenting.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#77What an odd sentence in the article: "But a more child-centered approach to parenting also seems to be a factor, as these executives make other major sacrifices in order to balance their professional and home lives." I would argue that not having a parent at home in the evening (because they are commuting) is the opposite of child-centric. Yes, they get a nice suburban home and parks, but what about parental bonding?
"The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation." - Karl Marx In a capitalist world, bonding isn't something you can consume or trade on the market. It therefore has no value, and no importance.
Isn't this article saying rather the opposite, namely that these people are willing to endure pretty horrible conditions in order to maintain some stability for their families?
You can argue about whether or not it'd be better for the kids to uproot once and have mom or dad at home every night, but they are at least central to the decision which implies a much higher degree of importance than you're suggesting.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#78I've done various commutes in my working life. Nothing beats being able to walk to work: 1) It's not too far, 2) It's exercise - what's not to like? 3) It's always, ALWAYS, the same length of time. Which allows you to plan. 4) It's not too far. My least favourite commute is on the British motorways, one day it could take the minimum amount of time, the next it could be 4 times longer. This amount of variation adds to…
this
you never really truly appreciate what impact your commute has until you have a 5 minutes walking commute.
I did this at some point for around 1 year. It was awesome.
3) above did not apply though. I had to cross a really busy street (i.e. car traffic) and the pedestrian traffic light took around 2.5 minutes (I kid you not). Depending on that damn traffic light my commute time could be 4 minutes or 6+ minutes. Recall being really annoyed, to the point of hating the traffic light.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#79"…taking the 10-hour redeye on Sunday nights and returning on Thursdays. This way, he says, he doesn’t have to uproot his family of 10 kids." No wonder he spends most of the week away!
maybe it's his family of 10 [binary] kids :)
and yes, 10 kids is can be overwhelming. hell, even 2-3 kids can be overwhelming.
Re: The Rise of the Outrageously Long Commute
#80I'm about to go from a 40min commute to an hour and a half commute (or so). It's quite astounding how many people commute in from the suburbs to downtown when it would be much easier and cheaper just to setup smaller offices in the suburbs or allow more remote work.
It's also amazing to me that after 30+ years, the suburbs are barely built up. It's somehow economically sustainable to move a bunch of people from point A to point B but not to have point A built up with more shops, industry, etc.