How the 40 hour work week turns you into the perfect consumer

[Farren]

I have always strongly been against an 8 hour workday. Not because of laziness...but because of just how consuming it is. We spend more time with co-workers than we do family. Many of us are over-worked and underpaid. But more importantly our time is taken from us.


I would GLADLY sacrifice Saturdays off to have 5 hour work days and Sunday off.

Ugh I don't think I could deal with only having one day off. I need to decompress. I'd still prefer a 5x8 setup.

40 hours is just too much however you slice it.

 

[redmarvel]

It would be nice to have a shorter work day.

It would be nicer still to have a shorter commute. I'm losing 21 hours a week commuting. I try to take advantage of that time by reading, but still...

 

[OctaviusINC]

In the long run, the more I think about how the 'ol USA wants us to operate...it is quite depressing.

I'm a game production artist. I work 45+ hours a week. It's over an hour commute to and from home. I see my coworkers much much more than I see my family and girlfriend. Everyday I get home I'm exhausted. When the weekend comes (which goes by in a flash) I'm even more exhausted. Yet in my spare time I mostly exercise. Everyone I work with is extremely out of shape. We sit in front of a computer staring into a screen. Communicating through skype. Or going to snail paced game production meetings. Lunch comes around, everyone runs to get fast food. Rinse and repeat. That explains America's obesity.

I remember a couple months into me getting this job (A job I was proud to get because it's what I went to school for) I couldn't help but think, "How do people do this?".

I can't imagine having a wife or children and doing this. Hell, even a pet. I would never see them. All my ambition? My personal projects? I've barely made any progress. I always keep thinking, "There's got to be more to life than this..." an age old question I'm sure.

 

[I'm Old Greg]

More people need to watch FIGHT CLUB

 

[-Arya-]

Fortunately for me my job is fairly close to my home, so I don't worry too much about the commute. Though with traffic it can be a nightmare, but those occasions are rare throughout the year. It peaks during September and October for the most part (when everyone is back from vacations and the kids have to go back to school).

 

[Anita18]

I think the most important thing is to feel like you're making a difference with what you do. If you have some autonomy over it and if you feel like you're making progress. If you hate your job, then yeah, the only thing to do is to spend your spare time and money on things that will make you feel better about your crap job.

If you're running a rat race in your job, it'll spill over into your personal life. Like CosmicPinchy's original post mentioned, there are people who will treat vacation as some kind of contest. I have relatives who do this, and they are absolutely the kind of people who are focused on achievement, not personal experience.

You can work hard, make money, and not buy into the consumerist culture. You just have to have a good deal of self-awareness, which I think is lacking in a lot of people know. Even for financially successful people, it's never enough. There's always the next job, the next raise, the next promotion, etc.



I'm lucky enough to consider my colleagues my friends too. I believe in some boundaries, but you can certainly be friends with your coworkers. I mean, those people watch your back, why shouldn't they be your friends?

I run with a pretty hippie group, so when we're not "working," we're still working on things to help society. Sure it's still work, but geez, we love it, so what if it would be considered work by most people?

Work by itself, is not bad. Most people, if given the choice, would choose to work and feel productive. But that's the thing - it has to feel like you're making progress, it's something you have some control over, and that you're making a difference with it. Take any of those things away, and it becomes something you hate having to do.

And if you have something constantly stressing you out, you fill that hole in your life with more material stuff.

 

[:eek:]

http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/your_lifestyle_has_already_been_designed/







I think a lot of us realize this, but we can't break the cycle. How can you? You fill up your weekends with friends, family, food, and drink because you're always being told "life is too short" so you need to get up and get out and go go go and this costs money. The economy keeps turning, big companies keep making a profit, and you go from Friday evening to Monday morning in a heartbeat. Where did the weekend go and why are you still so tired?

I noticed this while in Indonesia. Even though I was on vacation and I had a month to travel, I felt like I needed to keep going all the time. Can't waste the vacation! Got to get to the next spot and spend more money on souvenirs and food! It felt like the "experience" of being in Indonesia needed to be bought.

What a crazy Western world we live in.

Yes, and it's nothing that can last forever the way we're using up this planets resources