While the article certainly does highlight some disturbing trends, it reads like a hit piece against Silicon Valley. It focuses on a very narrow slice of the population that uses these apps.
It appears she didn't visit a co-working facility or even a coffeeshop as research. That would go against her narrative of the anti-social, nerdy shut-in. She also neglects to talk about the costs of commuting, namely that the longer the drive one has, the more likely they are to have higher levels of obesity, cholesterol, pain, fatigue and anxiety. For those with mid to low incomes, commutes can eat up 9% of one's income. They are also adding to gridlock and pollution.
The article only looks at a small cross-section of what appears to be anti She declines to write about the benefits of being a remote worker. The digital nomad movement is the diametric opposite of a shut-in. Parents of newborn children who work remote now get to be around their children instead of shuttling them off to daycare. These services sound awesome. I don't like doing dishes, washing my clothes, or cleaning my apartment. I don't see any virtue in doing mindless labor that I personally find annoying at best. If I want to do something repetitive that doesn't require higher cognitive abilities, I exercise. It has the benefit of clearing my head/bringing mindfulness. Isn't that the point of technology?
I, personally, have cut down drastically on driving. I am no longer adding to gridlock or spewing pollution into the air. I'm much healthier since I cook for myself more often and I exercise more. I love the flexibility it gives my life. I don't have to take a vacation day for mundane errands like going to the doctor, going to court, picking up a friend or relative from the airport, etc. I've more hobbies and explored more interests in one year of remote work than I did the previous 10 years. The greatest benefit is that it makes me MORE social. I get to see the people who are important to me in life the most and not spend most of my social time with people who I' am lukewarm about. I just didn't have any energy or motivation to do anything but veg out in front of the TV when I drove home through LA traffic from work.
The one downside I was that I found myself consuming more cable news/infotainment. This raised my level of righteous indignation and more and more of my conversations started to become intense debates with my positions formed by emotional responses. However, I fixed this by not watching as much Bloomberg and avoided media intended to cause outrage.
As a number of these services will be automated in the future, her conclusion that we are headed towards a stratified society with on-demand workers being reduced to servants in the Guilted Era is just flat out wrong. I am fearful of the future stratification of society, but that's due to people being displaced from work and not the issues
It appears she didn't visit a co-working facility or even a coffeeshop as research. That would go against her narrative of the anti-social, nerdy shut-in. She also neglects to talk about the costs of commuting, namely that the longer the drive one has, the more likely they are to have higher levels of obesity, cholesterol, pain, fatigue and anxiety. For those with mid to low incomes, commutes can eat up 9% of one's income. They are also adding to gridlock and pollution.
The article only looks at a small cross-section of what appears to be anti She declines to write about the benefits of being a remote worker. The digital nomad movement is the diametric opposite of a shut-in. Parents of newborn children who work remote now get to be around their children instead of shuttling them off to daycare. These services sound awesome. I don't like doing dishes, washing my clothes, or cleaning my apartment. I don't see any virtue in doing mindless labor that I personally find annoying at best. If I want to do something repetitive that doesn't require higher cognitive abilities, I exercise. It has the benefit of clearing my head/bringing mindfulness. Isn't that the point of technology?
I, personally, have cut down drastically on driving. I am no longer adding to gridlock or spewing pollution into the air. I'm much healthier since I cook for myself more often and I exercise more. I love the flexibility it gives my life. I don't have to take a vacation day for mundane errands like going to the doctor, going to court, picking up a friend or relative from the airport, etc. I've more hobbies and explored more interests in one year of remote work than I did the previous 10 years. The greatest benefit is that it makes me MORE social. I get to see the people who are important to me in life the most and not spend most of my social time with people who I' am lukewarm about. I just didn't have any energy or motivation to do anything but veg out in front of the TV when I drove home through LA traffic from work.
The one downside I was that I found myself consuming more cable news/infotainment. This raised my level of righteous indignation and more and more of my conversations started to become intense debates with my positions formed by emotional responses. However, I fixed this by not watching as much Bloomberg and avoided media intended to cause outrage.
As a number of these services will be automated in the future, her conclusion that we are headed towards a stratified society with on-demand workers being reduced to servants in the Guilted Era is just flat out wrong. I am fearful of the future stratification of society, but that's due to people being displaced from work and not the issues