Hi! I'm with you all the way! Despite 2+ decades of being an at-home parent, I managed to become an employed person again! Yay, me! Not supposed to happen. Interestingly, once my contact-tracing job was over (at which I chose to be a 30-hour person), the interest I received was only when I applied for part-time positions. This was a blessing because I was SO ambivalent about returning to that potential 8-6 (or longer) schedule that results with a significant commute and leave little time or energy for other pursuits (or even taking care of yourself). So I'm happy to work 1/2 time (and privileged to be able to afford to do so). Plus, I see a lot of folks who (despite official work-life balance policies) feel compelled to keep checking in to work all night long -- and if they do not, they are behind the 8-ball when they return in the morning. I have a friend who was part-time at Microsoft for several years but actually worked full-time and needed to be "on" even at 11 p.m. Stupid.
Emphasis on this question: "what will it take for the capitalist treadmill to slow down and let people live in a more natural way?" It will take a mass exodus, which might be coming. It doesn't seem like the next generation, those young folks in college now or soon to be, are willing to step on the capitalist treadmill. Unfortunately, the American mentality around work work work pervades every single field, from tech to nonprofit to education. It is hard to escape unless you just step off it.
I was forced to slow down while still working, after the death of my husband meant that I needed more time for everything else (estate settlement; elder care; house & home maintenance; self-care; grieving). I took a 20% pay cut and dropped my hours to M-Th. Pretty sure I would not have survived the first year otherwise. I don't imagine I can ever go back to "full-time" work. I'm fortunate enough that, for now, I don't need to, and the extra stress is not worth it.
Writing my newsletter and living my life currently, I have thought a lot about the world of work. Feels like we have retreated from the utopian idea that we should all work less, to something where grimly grinding is seen as a virtue. I have friends who brag about how busy they are and how many hours they work. I think it should be the opposite. Of course our society has more income inequality than the Gilded Age, and many low-income people have bought into the oligarchs’ idea that if they could just work even harder, their lives would be better. It feels like a mass delusion at this point.
Not sure where I’m going with this. Just frustrated I guess.
I think about this all the time. Being a stay-at-home mom, maybe I shouldn't have an opinion but here we are. Videos like this go viral and keep people arguing back and forth, divided. It separates generations, like you said, a lot of the comments on the video are of the "I had to do it so do you" nature. Instead of thinking about it for literally any reasonable length of time. Because if you thought about it, you would clearly see the issue is the rat race. The long work hours with no hours left for creativity, hobbies, or anything else that could bring an ounce of joy to someones life. Even people who enjoy their jobs deserve time to decompress and find something else fulfilling to spend some of their time doing.
I think if people would really come together over issues such as these ridiculous work schedules, housing issues, and numerous other important issues...something might actually be done about it. But when the masses can be divided, by their own egos and people continue to fight back and forth on the internet instead of DOING something about these things...here we are. Generation after generation stuck in the same rat race.
Hi! I'm with you all the way! Despite 2+ decades of being an at-home parent, I managed to become an employed person again! Yay, me! Not supposed to happen. Interestingly, once my contact-tracing job was over (at which I chose to be a 30-hour person), the interest I received was only when I applied for part-time positions. This was a blessing because I was SO ambivalent about returning to that potential 8-6 (or longer) schedule that results with a significant commute and leave little time or energy for other pursuits (or even taking care of yourself). So I'm happy to work 1/2 time (and privileged to be able to afford to do so). Plus, I see a lot of folks who (despite official work-life balance policies) feel compelled to keep checking in to work all night long -- and if they do not, they are behind the 8-ball when they return in the morning. I have a friend who was part-time at Microsoft for several years but actually worked full-time and needed to be "on" even at 11 p.m. Stupid.
Emphasis on this question: "what will it take for the capitalist treadmill to slow down and let people live in a more natural way?" It will take a mass exodus, which might be coming. It doesn't seem like the next generation, those young folks in college now or soon to be, are willing to step on the capitalist treadmill. Unfortunately, the American mentality around work work work pervades every single field, from tech to nonprofit to education. It is hard to escape unless you just step off it.
I was forced to slow down while still working, after the death of my husband meant that I needed more time for everything else (estate settlement; elder care; house & home maintenance; self-care; grieving). I took a 20% pay cut and dropped my hours to M-Th. Pretty sure I would not have survived the first year otherwise. I don't imagine I can ever go back to "full-time" work. I'm fortunate enough that, for now, I don't need to, and the extra stress is not worth it.
Writing my newsletter and living my life currently, I have thought a lot about the world of work. Feels like we have retreated from the utopian idea that we should all work less, to something where grimly grinding is seen as a virtue. I have friends who brag about how busy they are and how many hours they work. I think it should be the opposite. Of course our society has more income inequality than the Gilded Age, and many low-income people have bought into the oligarchs’ idea that if they could just work even harder, their lives would be better. It feels like a mass delusion at this point.
Not sure where I’m going with this. Just frustrated I guess.
I think about this all the time. Being a stay-at-home mom, maybe I shouldn't have an opinion but here we are. Videos like this go viral and keep people arguing back and forth, divided. It separates generations, like you said, a lot of the comments on the video are of the "I had to do it so do you" nature. Instead of thinking about it for literally any reasonable length of time. Because if you thought about it, you would clearly see the issue is the rat race. The long work hours with no hours left for creativity, hobbies, or anything else that could bring an ounce of joy to someones life. Even people who enjoy their jobs deserve time to decompress and find something else fulfilling to spend some of their time doing.
I think if people would really come together over issues such as these ridiculous work schedules, housing issues, and numerous other important issues...something might actually be done about it. But when the masses can be divided, by their own egos and people continue to fight back and forth on the internet instead of DOING something about these things...here we are. Generation after generation stuck in the same rat race.
Thats my 2 cents. Thanks for asking🤣