Re:Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed stud...
by flurdy on Thursday January 18, 2024 @12:21PM
(#39044519)
When for many years I had a long commute into London I appreciated I was lucky that it was on a train line without any train changes required. So that was a calm productive "me time" on the train for over an hour each way. Usually do some work on my laptop, some hacking on hobby apps, some film watching etc. Also a lot of snoozing.
But I also self-selected roles closer to the end station in London so the commute at the other end was short-ish.
Whenever I had to do any other commute: by car, bus, multiple changes, etc it was always a grind and shortlived.
However, I was able to stop even the not-so-bad commute long before COVID as I wanted to be at home when the kids came back from school as they are only young once and briefly so. Though I miss the "me-time".
This means that I couldn't read anything. Shaking of the bus also gives me time to time a mild headache. Now if the ride was smoother (like a train or a tram) and I still could sit and read then indeed I would agree with you.
Fortunately I don't have to commute very often so I can tolerate this to a degree but if I had to commute every day then it would add considerable extra strain into my life.
Normally the day should be divided into 3 equal parts: 1 sleep time, 2 work time, 3 personal time.
Commute time effectively steals from either personal time or from sleep time and this comes on top of getting ready for work that is also a major waste of time in the mornings.