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Comment by Zarath | Hacker News Reader

Is anyone else not as optimistic about remote work? I feel that the workplace is the single largest facilitator of friendship/relationship/community building that most adults have in the modern day. If this goes away I really fear that the loneliness problem will become even worse.

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When I worked remotely 2 days per week this was a problem for me, because all the people I worked with were together in an office. I felt quite isolated on those days and enjoyed going into the office to see people on the other 3 days.

However, when I changed jobs and was almost completely remote it was a lot better. Firstly I was working with other remote people so we communicated in different ways and not just about work. Secondly I made more effort to contact other remote workers nearby and meet up with them for coffee or lunch.

On balance I much prefer remote working to office working.

Remote work doesn't mean solitude, it means being free to work wherever, and often times whenever, you feel comfortable. It also means less commute, less cars, less pressure on the environment. If friendship/relationship/community is a worry go work in a nearby co-work space or a coffee shop or the park even, it might be a walk or bike ride away.

You're simplifying things. I don't think parks or co-work spaces will cut it for most people. Many software developers are introverts to begin with so meeting new people will become impossible for them in a remote work setting.

Yeah, as someone who is on the extreme end of introverted (not shy, just happy to be alone) this was the case for me. I got a membership to the co-working space, did many of the social events, attended some meetups even, but the connections just wouldn't stick.

On the flip side, when I have worked at an office I have always come out after a year or so with a couple close friends in the organization. Because of the physical proximity many of the shared experiences are more intense. Putting out production fires, after work beers, dropping in on a co-worker to talk about the product, etc, lead to longer lasting relationships.

Developers have a tendency to assume that technology can solve more of our issues than possible. I have plans to start my own company with a bit more savings and network under my belt, and I will be doing zero remote, assuming I can afford to.

Humans are not robots, we may be some sort of an algorithm but a very complicated one: we need emotional bonding and physical proximity is very important for that.

> Many software developers are introverts to begin with so meeting new people will become impossible for them in a remote work setting.

Even in work setting it's "impossible" for introverts to meet new people. I'm introvert and I talk to hardly no one at work.

How I meet people is by going to a pub where we can play board game. You simply sadly can't passively meet people, you need to want to meet them or else it will be a simple hello started from someone else that will bring to nothing.

I hear you. But a person like you would do even worse in remote work. The little social contact you have will be reduced to almost zero. I'm an introvert myself but I do see a big risk for isolation and depression if I worked remotely.

When you're working remotely, you have to actively, consciously make an effort to bond, connect with your colleagues. Think regular hangouts where you just have casual chats, casual 1:1 conversations and -if possible- semi-regular meetups in real life where the point is not to work.

That'll feel very unnatural at first, but over time just become part of working remotely.

I feel like that's only problem for people with no social circle outside the world who spend their whole days at the office.

I have worked remote and in office jobs. Whenever I work remote, I find I'm naturally more involved in meetups. This helps make up for some of the social activity I am missing.

More about my thoughts on the downsides of remote work here:

https://www.culturefoundry.com/cultivate/digital-agency-life...

I have a family, so working at home is far preferable to working in an office. Then again, my previous workplace was toxic (bad management), so perhaps it's better with better management, but I can't see how working in an office can ever compete with being at home with my wife and kids.

If you want/need more social interaction, there are plenty of other options to consider, such as:

- join a sports team or community group - interact with neighbors (they become co-workers if they're also working remote) - get a co-working space - attend community meetups regularly (I go to technical and entrepreneurship meetups) - get hobbies outside the house that involve others

The nice part about working from home is you get to decide who to interact with since you're not stuck with whomever your company chose to hire, and you can still communicate with them over chat or whatever. Sure, you have to be a little more proactive about it, but I think it's clearly better.

Yeah. I don’t like working at home because I want the separation, and I don’t have enough room to dedicated space to work.

I also find face to face meetings far more productive, and I struggle to hear people on calls (my hearing isn’t great).

I suspect it gets a lot better when the company has no one at all in the same place, but as soon as some people can have a quick chat in the office I think a two tier system will develop and that will cause issues.

This is my feeling as well.

I also enjoy my commute (which is rather short: ~25 min door to door) as a way to get into the mood for work or leave it behind on my way home.

Then again I am one of the people that enjoy open office plans. There may be some correlation with this.

Or, people use the extra time they were commuting (i.e. alone) to join up some clubs/hobbies/meet old friends.

Probably a personal issue, but I can count on zero hands the number of friends I've made in the workplace.

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