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Comment by samuraijack | Hacker News Reader

The constant anti work agenda that is thrown in your face if you use almost any social media is so annoying.

Have these anti work people ever considered that maybe some people actually like work and labelling them as slaves is insulting?

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Some work is exploited, in fact in this economy most work is exploited. If most people could work without being forced to work unreasonable hours, under stressful conditions, with ample free time, and without their bosses, or worse, their shareholder talking almost all of the profit they generate, most people would probably choose to work.

Most people like working, hardly anybody likes being exploited.

Thats interesting because my social media is filled with constant hustle culture content. Wonder how the algorithm classifies us.

The algorithm is just amplifying what gets the kick out of you. For some it's more of things they like or they are like; for others, it's more of things they hate or disagree with. Social media is approximating an infinite hall of mirrors.

I think it's a lot more complicated than anti-work vs. pro-work. The author is cautioning people against defining themselves by their level of productivity.

It's super weird to me because none of the jobs I've had as a programmer have been super demanding of my time or effort? I have to work, sure, but generally not as hard as I had to work at college. I rarely get called to do things outside of work hours, but generally when I do it's because there's a serious problem that I'm the subject matter expert for so it's understandable.

I absolutely do just "switch off" at 5pm. I sometimes work on programming things in my free time if I feel like it regardless.

I feel like, if your job is demanding more of you than a nine to five, and you don't thrive in that environment, you certainly have a right to complain or look for different work. I'm just surprised that it seems to be so common when all the work I've stumbled into in this field has been very reasonable.

And yes, obviously there's a difference between software dev and blue collar, or even other types of white collar work. I'm not blind to the fact that this is a particularly comfortable career, even if it's not as extravagant as it seems to have be a decade or so ago.

I guess I'm just surprised that there are so many apparently ground-down people in a place like this which you would imagine would be primarily populated with people in the software industry.

The article is about the temptation to define yourself through your productivity. It isn’t anti-work.

With all due respect, this reads like you had an axe to grind about social media’s anti work slant and this just reminded you of that.

The majority of people don't have that luxury, and very few have it throughout their whole career. The lucky ones should be grateful this label does not apply to them and not feel insulted by the less fortunate.

Or you should realize that it's called work because it's not fun and you can still enjoy and appreciate it. You think only people with rare amazing unicorn jobs enjoy work? Go drive a cab. Bartend. Work long hours for a startup you care about. Yes you can complain it sucks, but that's why it's called work. Learning how to enjoy it is the same as learning how to be good at it - and better at life.

This luxury you speak of as if it exists in some jobs is completely in your own mind.

Put another way, the only thing preventing you from enjoying that luxury right now, whatever you do, is a shitty attitude.

Those things you describe are jobs

Work is a term of physics; breathing is work. Eating is work.

Jobs exist because people are too lazy to do work for themselves.

What I want is no job and to work on my house, work in my food prep, work on interesting projects. Work on making the last mile stuff I need.

Work is great. Jobs are dumb.

Sometimes jobs are great streams of interesting work to do that also switch off at five.

You want to work on your house and prep your food? I am the complete opposite. I would rather work on building a website, and eat in a canteen, than work on my house or my food.

Reread...

> ...work on interesting projects.

Been building websites for 20 years, and writing code, studying math, building electronics since the 80s. Along with building homes from foundation up, rebuilding cars... Hedonic treadmill; individually, none of those things are enough anymore.

For me having to put so much time into riding a tightly focused job escalator is hell.

I can relate to this... I've been supporting myself for 30 years building apps and websites by the hour, for hourly wages, while working on my own years and years long projects on the side which make no money. I count 8 of them which took at least a year to code, and only 2 which made a small amount of profit. But I think this is actually a pretty great arrangement. I consider myself lucky to work in a kitchen all the time and still have the spare time to try building my own restaurant. I don't look at it as getting paid to waste my time, I look at it as getting paid to improve my skills, and to see the things that other people are missing, the gaps I might be able to improve upon.

Don't tell me you don't have time to do your daily web job and also work on your house. That's a first world problem if I've ever heard one.

I think it's called work because it _accomplishes something_, in a way that play or idleness doesn't.

Something can be a work of love, your life work, et cetera and it doesn't imply anything about it being fun or for money or not.

I want to learn more skills so I can do more types of work.

Sometimes it just accomplishes paying your rent so you can do your life's work on the side.

You can have a life of the mind at work, or you can have a mindless job and have your life of mind in your off hours. It's almost impossible to have both.

I would like to see you working in construction.

What's wrong with working in construction? I worked restaurants and bars and taxis throughout my 20s, but my best friend worked construction. He's an amazing writer and the lead singer for the band I was in. He didn't hate his work. It's an honest job.

Tell that to the introvert who has to work at a supermarket cash register. Or the single parent who has to work three low income jobs just to get by.

We tech workers are spoiled, but we should have a little empathy for those who aren't as lucky as those of us who found a way to support their families by doing something they love.

> almost any social media is so annoying.

Never a truer word spoken. And yet you go back?

If you read the article that’s not at all what they’re saying.

> The constant anti work agenda that is thrown in your face if you use almost any social media is so annoying.

I've got several friends who are doctors. They did study a shitload. And one of them, once his day is over, loves to read about investments, how to manage his finance, etc. Another one has a passion for Ferrari cars and owns one (but it's already its fourth one). He'll tell you all about the life of Enzo Ferrari and he'll never miss the Monaco F1 grand prix.

I won't write here what I think of people hating on these persons because they're successful. I especially won't write what I think of them when they go to visit the doctor. I know HN won't ban people easily but if I really wrote what I thought of these people it'd get me close to being banned.

12 years of studies. A very hard work: though on the mental and usually with incredibly long hours.

I don't consider them slaves. But I'd rather be remembered as a slave than as a parasite.

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