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Comment by michaelt | Hacker News Reader

> The real story, to the extent that these surveys are accurate, is that American workers are astonishingly happy and engaged

I've always suspected journalists can get a biased impression from sources like social media, because normal people don't go on social media to brag about how good they have it or say how much they love their employers (except perhaps on linkedin).

If my waiter buddy posts about how he's had a shitty day with rude customers and his boss cancelling his holiday because they're short-staffed? I might say "oh man that sucks - work, amiright?"

I'm sure as hell not going to chime in and tell him I'm highly paid with interesting work and great conditions.

I can easily see how a journalist, viewing Twitter or Reddit or Facebook, could come to the conclusion that everyone hates their jobs.

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> I've always suspected journalists can get a biased impression from sources like social media, because normal people don't go on social media to brag about how good they have it

> I'm highly paid with interesting work and great conditions

Isn't bragging the main thing people do on Social Media?

Even when we don't set out to brag, we still end up doing it often...

> Isn't bragging the main thing people do on Social Media?

start following more interesting people

But this same tendency can explain the escalations of misery being professed on social media. It is, itself, a point of bragging to show that you had a worse thing.

>because normal people don't go on social media to brag about how good they have it

Have you seen LinkedIn? people get sacked without warning and still praise their former bosses/companies.

Not because they necessarily liked either (maybe they did) but because there is a fear of being seen as negative when trying to find another job.

I’m curious how you are able to know the inner motivations of the people making those posts

Most people hate losing their livelihood.

Because no actual human I've met in real life is as willing to fellate their employer as enthusiastically as the people I see on LinkedIn? And I'm saying that as someone who's quite happy to sing the praises of my current employer.

The way some employers do silently abuse employees indeed is very difficult to talk about without risking future employment.

> (except perhaps on linkedin)

Where there's a strong incentive to lie so as not to endanger employment prospects.

Unfortunately with journalism, particularly with filler articles like this, the outcome of the article is probably predetermined. I would imagine it's something like, "write an article about how employees are more satisfied with their jobs." It's not unlike, "write a paper about how Stalin's policies benefited the Soviet Union."

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