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Comment by ardy42 | Hacker News Reader

> It's a damn shame, really, the slavish devotion to one's car and spending hours a day sitting in traffic apparently is apparently preferred over actually getting time back in your everyday life. It's like people have adapted to having no life outside of work, and now they're just so bored they'd rather lose that time than just find a new hobby or learn something. I don't think I've ever thought about anything more depressing than a group of people who want less free time in their day.

I'm pretty sure no real person has argued that they want to work from the office because they have a slavish devotion to their hours-long commute and they don't want to develop a life outside of work.

It would probably help the discussion if you didn't straw-man the people who don't share your preferences, and dismiss them out of hand.

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This - I've lived both, intensely, and don't wish the mental effects of the Valhalla people seem to think remote work is on anyone.

If you've got a family, home, and you've hit the upper limits of your desired career development, I get it. But, you gotta think about how it would affect the career for someone coming into your workplace as a college grad.

>It would probably help the discussion if you didn't straw-man the people who don't want to work from home and dismiss their perspectives out of hand.

Wasn't doing that at all. People who want to go to the office and don't have an hourslong commute in traffic aren't the people I'm referring to. I'm referring to the people who have hourslong commutes sitting in traffic. People who are close to their jobs and want to go in, great, it's the fact that a huge percentage of the country drives to work. If you don't commute far to get to work, or perhaps don't even own a car, then I'm not talking about you.

The people you are talking about also probably don't like their commutes, but are willing to make that tradeoff. Your intentional use of inflammatory language makes it clear you are not looking for meaningful discussion. Your description of them is inaccurate and completely undercuts any point you were otherwise trying to make.

I suggest rewriting it as less a critique of other people's values, and more an expression of your opinion for how you see the situation -- without attack others. When you criticize other people's decisions without being empathetic, people aren't going to engage with you. And what is the point in posting in a forum with other people, if not to hear their perspectives and maybe learn something?

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