
Hyperemployment, or the Exhausting Work of the Technology User - dkasper
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/hyperemployment-or-the-exhausting-work-of-the-technology-user/281149/
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alaskamiller
Once I was a Marine combat engineer. We worked all day. Reveille starts at 06
and taps wasn't until 20, 21, or maybe even 24. There was a singular focus
throughout the day: get shit done.

That involved no computers, no phones, no digital distractions. Just blowing
up stuff, building bridges, or moving boulders by hand.

Physically draining work that at the end you try to somehow find a can of un-
skunked beer to cheer to.

I remember the culture was unkind to office work, they saw it as soft. That's
partly why they were out there in the first place, unfit for mainstream
society, not wanting to be desk jockeys, just good ol' boys, the desperate,
the unwanted, the jailed, standing around in uniforms doing things with their
hands. I made sure I never told anyone I was any good with computers.

The type of problem solving we had to do on a day to day basis didn't require
too much thought, and if anything there were always policy or documentation to
explain what to do and how to do it.

Long days, hard work, but I never had to use my brain. I quite enjoyed
functioning as a tiny cog in a big machine despite the risks.

Transitioning home, I found work at a premier tech company, one where they
make phones, tablets, and computers. The work was different. I stared at
screens all day. Inside a cubicle with fuzzy walls, where often times the only
communication I have were email chains.

Operating a computer, functioning as a tiny switch in a big board required the
a more precious asset: my brain. I was thinking all the time, trying to
recall, connect, and communicate. And doing the same thing all day is...
boring.

I went home every night drained. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. The
days weren't as long, the environment wasn't bad, the risk were low but the
work is hard. I hated it.

Nowadays I code. I romanticize my job by equating it to writing love poems to
an inanimate object. Sometimes I get affection, often times I get rejection.
It's an ongoing love-hate relationship. One that just takes and takes from my
brain while leaving me a soft, mushy lump on a nice Aeron chair yearning to be
free.

Computers took a lot from me since I was 10. Two decades late I've only barely
learned how to take a lot from computers.

Find your balance.

~~~
digikata
I'm thinking that the exhaustion had less to do with email or tech per se, but
more to do with not having the authority to get shit done by actually solving
problems. What I imagine with your Marine combat experience, is that you had
access the to resources you needed, and it was your group's sole
responsibility to get things done. In my career, the most draining positions
I've had in the past are the ones where you can only fix symptoms, or
peripheral problems and there is some long-term roadblock for me or the team
to fully address problems.

~~~
mchusma
Ha. I found this statement pretty funny as an ex-army officer. You got it 100%
wrong. You have very little control in the army. To do anything. Including
leave for the weekend, or taking a vacation.

------
sbierwagen
I remember pg saying something like "email is a todo list that lets anyone in
the world add items to the top" but the actual quote isn't quite as good:

[http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html)

    
    
      Email was not designed to be used the way we use it now. 
      Email is not a messaging protocol. It's a todo list. Or 
      rather, my inbox is a todo list, and email is the way 
      things get onto it. But it is a disastrously bad todo list.

------
dreamdu5t
Or you could exercise some control over your own life and not pay attention to
Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Reddit, etc.

Life is so horrible because work consists of reading Reddit instead of
physical labor. Where's my flying car?

~~~
Detrus
Physical labor was great because you didn't have to work then go to the gym
separately. Left more leisure time.

~~~
thrush
I don't buy it. You only need to workout about 30min a day, 3-4 times a week
to stay in decent shape. Maybe an hour if you include prep and showering.
That's only a few hours of your leisure time a week you might be missing out
on...

~~~
scarmig
The biggest difference is the leisure time that accrues to you by retirement.
On top of having more money saved, you're almost certainly in much better
physical shape than someone who engaged in physically demanding activity for 8
hours a day, 40 hours a week, for 40 years.

~~~
codex
Have you seen professional acrobats? They look 15 years younger than they are.

~~~
AmVess
There's a tremendous difference between physical fitness and running your body
into the ground through long days of extraordinarily difficult labor.

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pmiller2
How does this reconcile with "Bullshit jobs," which also quotes Keynes in
1930?

[http://www.strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/](http://www.strikemag.org/bullshit-
jobs/)

------
xlayn
This is a rant about I can't manage my own life: there is no reason to pay
attention to what you don't want, unless you do. Unsubscribe, if you can't
flag as spam, pay your bills on time (do I really need to say that?). Add
others rant's as previous, leave FB/HN/etc bla.

------
mcv
I don't find email that much of a drain. I used to, when I was subscribed to a
ton of mailinglists, but I cut down, and I skip a lot. I don't have to read
everything. I tried to once; I tried to read all of usenet, then all of the
web. And now, well, G+ and HN. And there I skip most too.

I read when I like. I don't need to check stuff constantly. I could have tons
of free time if I just kept away from G+ and HN a bit more. And the stuff I
read counts as leisure; maybe not the best way to spend my leisure time, but
it's still leisure.

I don't think Keynes was all that wrong, really. I work 32 hours a week, and
my son is the main thing that eats up my leisure time. People had more kids in
the 1930s.

