Melatonin ,

OF COURSE we prioritize life over work. Normal people always have. That doesn’t mean we don’t work. What is life without work? Amusing ourselves to death?

BellyPurpledGerbil ,

It’s the imbalance that’s always been the problem. People want to work, but many have to work to survive. So every day is a struggle for survival. It’s no wonder we’re seeing a rise in anxiety disorders, depression, suicide, and general health decline across the board. Some day every late stage capitalist society will normalize the kind of work culture we see in China, South Korea, and Japan, where people are worked to death and have no time for themselves. No time and no safety net for starting families. And paid just enough to get by, not to thrive.

I’m with the younger generations here. I’d rather amuse myself to death than work myself to death.

Melatonin , (edited )

“You better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone

For the times, they are a-changin’”

-Dylan

Everybody, everybody has to work to survive, from aboriginal people, to the most developed country, to the most socialized country in the world. It has always been thus, and that does not explain rising anxiety, depression, suicide, or health decline.

Abuses of workers and exploitive attempts to move toward a serfdom where no worker owns anything have existed as long as humans have been selfish. It’s not the result of a political system.

The French in the 1700s didn’t lay down and amuse themselves when exploited. Neither did the American colonies. Neither did Russia. Neither did China. It might be time to stop dropping out, give up on comfort, and start the hard work of getting shit fixed.

Hey everybody, you’re anxious and depressed because you know you have to do something about it and you don’t want to. Maybe you even know you’re going to let it happen.

Misconduct ,

I think you took a wrong turn at Facebook and ended up here on accident bro

Melatonin , (edited )

Haha, good one

But seriously, what’s supposed to change? It’s there going to be a friendly helpful Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos or even Elon Musk? Honest public-minded politicians?

Look at Germany right now. HUGE protests.

You aren’t powerless. You just aren’t doing anything.

aidan ,

I disagree, individualistic societies work less. It is people who are taught they have a responsibility to society that work more.

Illuminostro ,

vermyndax ,

I’m GenX, and I spent about ~25 years in the corporate racket before I realized that they don’t give a fuck. I’m all about living now as well, and I encourage others to do the same.

assassin_aragorn ,

The pandemic was a big mask off moment for corpos.

LifeOfChance ,

I was criticized for years about this approach to work so I’m glad others see it now. If work yielded results sure I’d focus a little more but as it’s gotten worse I can’t even have hobbies because I can’t afford to get into anything financially, mentally, and because of time of working multiple jobs to make it by…

DigitalFrank ,

How does one become a “future-of-work expert?” If I decided to become one, what training would I need?

bratosch ,

Work, but in the future. Duuhh

sigh ,
@sigh@lemmy.world avatar

I’ll do it later

OneWomanCreamTeam ,
@OneWomanCreamTeam@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Optimistic: an economist who specializes in speculation about the labor market Pessimistic: just some person who said some shit

WholeEnchilada ,

Could gen Z become the new gen X? As an Xer, I feel some solidarity with gen Z.

KuroeNekoDemon ,

My mom can see the corruption with modern work culture and she’s Gen X and knows the same reasons I do as to why people don’t want to work. I think Gen Z, Millenials and Gen X are starting to stand up to the Boomers shitty work culture. We just want to be treated with kindness and have a good work environment how hard is that?

fosforus ,

If you can live without working, go ahead. If not, you work.

maynarkh ,

I think it’s more of a “do you grind for that promotion or do you do just enough work to not get fired?” question. The system heavily relies on people believing they provide value to society through their work, and the fact that doing your job well is rewarding in itself. I see my whole generation being burnt out of this however.

fosforus , (edited )

I see my whole generation being burnt out of this however.

I see that happening too, but at the same time I’m also witnessing their workload and demands on them being smaller than what it used to be (already at school), and their work conditions being greatly improved compared to previous times. There’s clearly a systemic problem somewhere, as I don’t think whole generations can suddenly be simply worse than previous ones, but at the same time it’s crystal clear that the problem is not “too much work”.

Jonathan Haidt has written about this a few times before[0], and his latest book[1] is coming in a few months. Should be interesting.

[0] www.thecoddling.com

[1] www.amazon.com/…/0593655036

KevonLooney ,

That first book seems like conservative whining about being “shouted down” on college campuses. I think this guy is too young to have experienced the 60s, because college campuses were a lot rowdier then.

His ideas don’t look plausible to me at all. It sounds like he just wants attention.

fosforus , (edited )

His ideas don’t look plausible to me at all. It sounds like he just wants attention.

Perhaps read the book first? I’m sure it’s available from piracy sites if you don’t want him to have your money. Ignoring a thing you disagree with initially is a great way to never improve intellectually.

maynarkh ,

because college campuses were a lot rowdier then

I’m just saying that the university experience of my grandparents’ generation in the 50s included trying to fight off the Soviet 8th Mechanized Army and becoming NYT Man of the Year.

That said, education becoming shittier definitely is a phenomenon across cultures.

ZzyzxRoad ,

I’m also witnessing their workload and demands on them being smaller than what it used to be (already at school), and their work conditions being greatly improved compared to previous times

This is exactly the kind of “back in my day” invalidating, subordinating bs that many workers, not just gen z, are sick of putting up with. No one wants to be talked down to, or to have to put up with constant boomer finger wagging. On the other hand, it’s obvious when people talk like this that they’re unable to accept how much things change, and regardless of age, shows how out of touch they are with what the average worker puts up with.

I’m sure the people (and children) working in factories in the industrial revolution probably had it easier than those who came before them too. Maybe they were spoiled for fighting for an eight hour workday and safety regulations /s

Millennials are some of the first to have to be “always on” with constant emails, and Slack, and companies monitoring their every move on their phones and laptops, and hiring managers scouring their social media before agreeing to hire them, people getting fired for having OF pages, and having to constantly post bs all over LinkedIn just to stay relevant since there’s no way they’ll be able to keep the same job for more than a few years. And that’s just at their main job, nevermind the two other app-based “hustles” they’re forced to have that pay less than minimum wage. Just because the demands are different doesn’t mean they’re any lower, nor any better.

fosforus , (edited )

Millennials are some of the first to have to be “always on” with constant emails, and Slack, and companies monitoring their every move on their phones and laptops,

I totally agree. And in addition to “having to be” always on, we very often also choose to be always on. This is one of the biggest problems of our generation, I think, and I’m not seeing any attempts at fixing it. If anything, we’re trying to make it worse.

maynarkh ,

My experience has been that, at least in education, it’s inefficient work. My parents got to learn more and study less. They were taught stuff my classes just didn’t have time for, while their school days lasted from 8:00 to 14:00, mine went from 7:00 to 15:30. I was bored through most of it.

It’s not “too much work”, it’s “too much make-work”.

profdc9 ,

You’re not even number two.

NewAgeOldPerson ,

Of course not. That’s Bono.

ArugulaZ ,
@ArugulaZ@kbin.social avatar

Why the hell shouldn't they?

Blackmist ,

Every generation does this. Gen Z can barely afford to.

They don’t really think middle aged man are going into work every day busting their plums, just so some cunt above them can buy a nicer car do they?

Bare minimum, every day, don’t get sacked. Winner.

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

This just isn’t true in the US. There’s absolutely a culture among older generations here of people working their ass off for nothing. And those people look down on younger folks who aren’t as stupid as they are, and don’t give away their labor for free.

Crowfiend ,

“I just can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to work!” --my grandma, who’s been supported by my grandpa’s money for as long as I can remember.

Yeah, the people who were brainwashed into thinking that ‘working just to work is great,’ are undeniably unconcerned with the rest of us, and far too many people think that way.

While it’s true that I would want to do something productive with my downtime, and not be wasting it on video games or whatever, I definitely don’t want to do it for some CEO or other higher power who cares as much about me, as I do about the ants in my yard.

EldritchFeminity ,

You’re falling for that propaganda too, a little bit; as are we all. We don’t need to be productive every moment of the day - hell, studies have shown that humans are only really productive about 4 hours out of the day. If you work a 9-5 style job, 4 hours of every day is spent doing things other than being productive. So don’t feel guilty for doing things just because they make you happy. Play video games, make Warhammer models, do silly little drawings that only you will ever see, whatever makes you happy, simply because that’s what life is about: doing things that make us happy. Time spent doing that is never time wasted, and screw the people that tried to convince entire generations that we only have worth as a person if we’re being “productive.”

Zeon ,

This.

TexMexBazooka ,

Not only look down on, but accuse younger generations of being “disrespectful” for not accepting them same level of exploitation from them.

KuroeNekoDemon ,

Hi Gen Z here I got diagnosed with Complex PTSD and Psychosis after a very awful and abusive work environment that’s ended in the Ministry of Labour thinking of fining the employer and me suing them for reprising against me for calling the ministry to get the abuse to stop. It has nothing to do with money it has everything to do with being treated with respect and not getting abused. And these employers wonder why no one wants to work for them if they’ll just come out with a mental health, psychiatric or psychological disorder

replicat ,

Seems pretty selfish to me

/s

catalog3115 ,

How is this selfish?

Gargantuanthud ,

It was sarcasm, hence the /s

fosforus ,

Seems pretty selfish to me

Yes

/s

No

ConstantPain ,

Don’t you think about the poor dividends?

bufalo1973 ,
@bufalo1973@lemmy.ml avatar

Welcome to South Europe. We know work is what pays the bills, only that. Live is everything else.

Nobsi ,
@Nobsi@feddit.de avatar

The only reason i work 80 hours a week is so that my employees and my future children don’t have to have the same luck as me.
If i had a regular life i would not ever work 40 hours.

I see how little my dad gets as a pension and how much my grandpa got. I will not receive anything.

Da_Boom ,
@Da_Boom@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

You shouldn’t live to work, that’s a terrible, shitty, boring, sole sucking way to survive, sure some people enjoy that way, but those guys are the minority, or theyve managed to make their hobby a job so they’re not actually working a day in their life, just getting paid to enjoy their hobby

You work to live. You do just enough work so you can go and enjoy yourself. I generally try not to work too much overtime, and I refuse to be on call unless I get desperate for a cash injection.

Working to live is the one reason I haven’t moved out of home - I pay A$450 a fortnight in board, and that’s far less than most rental properties, (who usually require that but weekly but for a residence that is far worse than where I currently live) and the only room and clothes I have to keep clean are my own.

I got my hobbies and I indulge in them regularly - I game or read my book on the bus to and from work (recently managed to obtain a steam deck for on the go gaming) I livestream when I want to, even if no one’s watching. I go visit my friends on weekends - usually an hour out of my way down the back roads, because I like driving the winding roads and it’s a bonus that it just happens to unironically be the fastest route to their place.

My job isn’t too stressful, and honestly I’m not wanting for much more than I already have. And because I live at home, Im not in debt (apart from my government university debt, but added taxes slowly pay that off, and there’s no deadline to pay it off in full) and am actually saving for a house deposit in the future.

I’m happy, I mean it won’t last, I’ll eventually have to move out - my parents won’t want me living with them forever. Wether I can save enough to get a deposit on a mortgage or have to rent remains to be seen. Hopefully the housing market collapses like it needs to.

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