I have mixed feelings on remote work as a whole. I have worked remotely for nearly a decade, but before that, I worked at a sort of artisanal bakery/ice cream shop for 4 years.

It was small enough that one person could prepare the ingredients and run the place on their own. We opened at 10:00, which meant that I needed to arrive around 6:00 or 6:30 to get the dough prepared, chop the fruit, make toppings, etc. The messiness of the work prevented you from using your phone too much, and as it was super early, no one wanted to text with you either. Even the early morning walk there (I lived nearby) was pretty peaceful.

So, from about 6:30 to 10:00 everyday, I was disconnected from society and the Internet and working with my hands. While remote work has paid 10x the salary and provided infinitely more flexibility, I still miss that experience of waking up early and working physically on real objects instead of popping open my laptop at the last minute. In the future, I hope that we rethink computer work and make it less cut off from our nature as physical beings.