We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons

Re:We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons by luckydata on Monday June 21, 2021 @01:55PM (#27581719)

yes, but kids are going back to school. The "i'm lonely" part is an effect of how bad US cities are for social interaction. I guarantee you if you live in a European city you're not starved for social interaction, you can go to your neighborhood watering hole, or square, and meet with your actual friends anytime.

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Re:We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons by vladvasiliu on Monday June 21, 2021 @02:44PM (#27582449)

There might be something to that, but I think you still have to actually get to the watering hole / square / etc. Many people complain about there being no more boundaries when WFH, working all the time, etc. I think the issue is more psychological than purely logistical.

I live in Paris, where you can easily find a watering hole within walking distance [0], yet I used to hear this same sentiment from colleagues even before Covid was a thing.

At a previous job we used to work a lot from home, which I really enjoyed, and whenever I brought the subject up at the current one, many people would comment something along the lines of "I don't know, I'd hate to be alone all the time". And this was coming from people who seemed fairly sociable and who were often talking about friends outside work (so they weren't isolated).

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[0] Assuming you live in Paris proper, not in the far-away suburbs.

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Re:We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons by kelnos on Monday June 21, 2021 @05:29PM (#27584771)

> There might be something to that, but I think you still have to actually get to the watering hole / square / etc.

And this is why suburbs and "bedroom communities" suck. If you spend all your time either at home with your nuclear family, or at the office with your colleagues, my feeling is that you don't really have a healthy social life.

As much as people shit on San Francisco for its lack of density in many areas, I can easily meet up with a friend after work at a nearby bar or restaurant or park. I just did that last week and it was wonderful to be able to do that again after all the pandemic restrictions.

> I think the issue is more psychological than purely logistical.

I agree with that, and that's actually encouraging. It means that there actually is no real-world issue with this, and the issues in our heads can be fixed. People can learn to develop better boundaries while working from home, and train themselves to seek social interaction outside of work better. And also come to realize that social interaction at the office isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.

Beyond that, any feeling about WFH related to social interaction that has developed during the pandemic is immediately suspect. WFH without the pandemic will look a lot different, and a lot healthier.

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Re:We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons by grawprog on Monday June 21, 2021 @02:06PM (#27581855)

I have to ask, how realistic has it been to do such things in most places over the last year? I mean WFH or not, most places, governments have not allowed people to do any of those things for the better part of a year.

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Re:We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons by lm28469 on Monday June 21, 2021 @02:22PM (#27582071)

I'm in Berlin and haven't changed a thing in my social life besides the occasional bar/restaurant

I still enjoyed drinks and meals with friends outside. People made it much worse to themselves than they had to.

There was a few weeks of crazy lockdown rules but even during these the police never bothered me when I was walking out at night with a friend. Most laws were passed so that they could have the legal rights to break up parties and large groups.

Besides France I don't know a lot of places that enforced a "stay at home and don't meet anyone at any time for any reasons" lockdown for very long

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