I’m with you in simplicity and the cult of being busy.

And I even personally prefer the social moment of a cashier to performing self-checkout.

But from the “simplicity” perspective, it’s actually pretty reasonable to tally and tender your own purchases. It’s the kind of simple practical task we probably benefit from making time for.

If someone were to help you, of course they should get paid, but it’s only a quirk of history that that’s been the default.

> It’s the kind of simple practical task we probably benefit from making time for.

I have this opinion about cooking, or walking the dog. Self-checkout I see as a missed opportunity for social interaction (or maybe not, considering the amount of times an employee comes over to unblock the system :)

I had a good streak going for a while with maintaining a good diet and exercise. Once you decide to take a break it's easy to stop though.

Recently I've had a project at work which is just enjoying and engrossing, so I'm "choosing" to be busy with it at all hours at the expensive of other "good" habits. (Spending long hours "in the zone", if you will). I take the motivating and energizing peaks at work when I can get them.

I found this audio book enjoyable and accessible. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it does shed some interesting light on the "busy" epidemic we feel surrounded by.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Addicted-to-Busy-Audiobook/178753...

Surely becoming a father is a reasonable reason to be busy.

It is sometimes referred to as the rush hour of life.

I wouldn't use that analogy because being a father is wonderful and rush hour is a miserable slog. But it does have a way of pushing nonessential activities out, even if you'd ideally like to do them.

> shadow work we all need to do behind the scenes like self-checkouts at supermarkets where we are not /paid/

that doesn’t strike me as a good example. i’ll take unpaid checkout at the supermarket over hunting or growing food or making chocolate or making wine myself every single time.

Agreed.

And to be fair, I didn't get paid to stand in line and make small talk with whoever decided to talk to me, just to get to the cashier and wait while they cater to me. Shopping almost always involves an amount of unpaid work.

Sure, simplicity is great. At the same time, the comment was about parenting and how, once you have a couple extra mouths to feed at your table, experience shows, that ones life tends to become more occupied and thus busier. This is care work, not that bullshit busy work you are talking about. There is a difference.