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Comment by beeforpork | Hacker News Reader

If you want to and if you are aware of the dangers of what technology and modern work life can do, you can have a convenient and slow life today. Yes, you might be expected to constantly consume, but you don't have to. Throw out the TV, consistently ignore and switch off ads. I firmly believe that it is possible to enjoy the ease of modern technology life, and that drawbacks and not inherent.

Technology does make my life easier.

One aspect that I think does make life worse today is that families and friends tend to be distributed across larger distances -- too large to decide spontaneously to share a beer in a pub. It is more healthy and convenient to live close to the people you love to spend time with. But I am not sure this is technology's fault.

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Tell your boss you're getting rid of every device that lets him interact with you past five pm and tell me how it goes.

In many (or even most?) companies where I live and work, it is not that bad. My boss will not try to interact with me past 5pm. If we have a meeting just before 5pm, he will wish me a nice evening. I would not have taken the job otherwise -- yes, probably that cost me some salary.

>... yes, probably that cost me some salary.

I'll forever take a slightly lower salary for a solid work-life balance. The mental health benefits, and overall happiness, are worth infinitely more than a little more cash.

I have refused to be contactable outside of work hours everywhere I have ever worked. It works great: as long as you never allow an expectation to be made that you will be reachable outside of business hours, most workplaces will cope.

My boss has a life too, why would he want to interact with me outside business hours?

outside of happy hours or whatever social thing we've both chosen to be at

I'm in upper management, I'm salaried, and I did just that when I was hired two years ago. My boss said, "Great!". I told him I have notifications for GMail disabled 24/7, and that Slack only notifies me during work hours, M-F. He said, "Wonderful!". I'll take three days off mid-week to go camping in the backcountry and will tell him I'll be entirely out of service. He'll say, "Good for you!" in a genuine way.

It's literally never been a problem. I'll come in to the office, respond to messages received afterhours and nobody cares that it took me until my shift to get back to them.

I know plenty of other people who also don't have that pressure. Careful with your snark next time.

Probably depends on one's role in the org. As an IC I've never had this be a problem.

My boss would give me a thumbs-up. Perhaps you should consider other teams or workplaces?

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