I live in the US and I have normal social interactions with my coworkers, not really trying to hide my real personality. That poster is exaggerating the danger, IMO.

It depends on what you need to hide. I’m an introvert and not a neurotypical and struggle wearing a mask at work for extended periods of time. I’ve adapted to display what is expected of me in those settings but it’s tiring to not be able to be onself…

Not just that but totally different culture.

I also find that lunch and coffee are great ice breakers - otherwise an office can feel quite sterile and disconnected.

Yeah that's the thing about remote work I hate the most. It's so dry. To talk about anything remotely personal or spicy you have to be face to face at the cafe or something.

There are a few coworkers who come in to the coworking space with me and we talk about all kinds of things and get to know each other really well. No one does this on Teams/Slack. Not being able to assess the vibe of the room and having everything permanently logged just kills any personality.