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Comment by dusted | Hacker News Reader

I'm enjoying it, I like working from home and I prefer to interact with people in text or voice calls over face to face. I wish society would adapt to this and get better infrastructure for things like shopping in my area so I literally never had to leave the house to interact with another human. I like watching TV shows with my best friend on a discord session, we just press play at the same time.

It's like, finally the rest of society has to abide to how I want things to be, I'm glad that I don't have to say "sorry, got a cold so not shaking hands" anymore, because now we just don't do that, it was gross to begin with, why would I want to touch some strangers hands?

The economy breaking down from this, well, that's not only a bad thing, the economy was broken to begin with, in the best case, this forces us to rethink the systems.

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As I eluded to in the thread about the iPhone SE: Choice is king.

Personally, I'm like you. This is my heaven, three weeks "alone", being able to pick my interaction method and being in control of my surroundings means my senses don't get assaulted. Truly it's paradise. (if, a little bit more extreme than I'd like).

However, not everyone is me. I would like people to allow me to exist in this way and for society to accept that I'm not just a recluse or unable to work this way.

But at the same time, I feel for all those who are truly people's people. That feed on social interaction, not just in the office. I used to somewhat envy them, society is basically built for them. But now I'm actually very worried for them.

Yes, indeed, choice is king. What I wrote is from a very selfish point of view. I regret that some people have it like this against their will, and I wish they could get back to normal asap. Except, I don't wish that truly, because they would force me with them. Whatever the most people want to do, everybody is expected to do, therein lies the problem.

I don’t get how they would “force you with them.” Nobody cares if you choose to self isolate. If you like this there’s no reason you ever need to go back. For many people there has been no change and will be no change, if things ever do reopen completely.

I don’t feel for them much - after all this time having it their way and forcing us into commutes, events, team lunches (who decided this was a reward for gods sake), Christmas parties, meetings, standups and more without a thought for our mental health, surely they can deal with it our way for a while!

We need some awareness of categories here. You are in a particular category where that feeling is an option.

I am in the category where my spouse and I retained our jobs, but lost childcare. These weeks are a nightmare, but I am fortunate.

More urban co-workers of mine do not have the option of outdoors. I am time-crunched and frustrated, but have plenty of sunshine.

Neighbors of mine in health care have to do intense shift work with COVID patients. Some retained child care options, but some didn't, and if they did, anxiety about it exists.

Many many more people out there have the terrible misfortune of too much time and unsteady finances. I feel the most sorry for these people.

If people weren't messy and went about infecting each other left and right, healthcare workers wouldn't be under this kind of strain, and I wouldn't blame them for just going home and saying fuck it, they didn't start this and they're in my opinion under _NO_ obligation to lift that burden beyond what can be considered a normal call of duty in any other job. It's simply unfair to say "Oh, yes, I get to go home after my 8 hour workday, because I'm not a doctor, but _YOU_ chose to be a doctor so you're have to work yourself to the bone while I sit on the couch and infect my friends while watching the game."

Childcare, if the fact that well educated people with good jobs and (assuming) reasonable income is in need of childcare, is not a demonstration of how wrong a society we've constructed.. Sure, in prehistory, some had to stay back when them while others hunted, but we didn't need to keep that structure in place as we progressed.

How is it not crazy that we have constructed society in such a way that one has to offload them to someone else to be considered "a productive member of society".

How is is not entirely broken that, despite the enormous amount of wealth generated in the world, people still starve, and there's pretty much no help for them if they lose their jobs?

Community does not have to mean that we physically come together, it can mean that we pull the load we can, we contribute and share, we treat each other well and respect each other.

This comment bothers me, given that it's in the top section of the comments list. We need to be having a bit of common sense in order to comment on this. That said, doesn't necessary need to be too thoughtful.

I say, We do need in-person interactions. And share our thoughts with others, I work in technology and often try to do this instead of virtual emoji handshake, because it gives me different perspective about life and how others are dealing with their problems. And more than all, to develop some empathy otherwise, life is just mundane.

Can you please use I instead of we?

People are different and they have different needs even in social interactions.

And the hundreds of thousands dead around the world?

I'm fairly certain that number would be _A_LOT_ higher if nobody isolated. I'm also speculating that the general amount of people dying from infectious disease will fall, the flu takes a toll every year, we could prevent a lot of those. Why suffer through the common cold if you can simply avoid getting it to begin with?

As I read your question again, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant in my previous post. I do not think the actual virus is a good thing, I wish for that to be over as soon as possible, but the isolation part, more of that please.

Are you suggesting this should be a regular thing? I get that maybe some aspects of your personal experience are better. I don't like shaking hands either and wish we bowed like some East Asians.

But your words feel like they don't truly understand the ramifications of the life and death struggles going on in hospitals, or that the vast majority of human beings that are not you, evolved to need a good amount of social interaction.

This is not normal and should never ever considered being any type of normal. We can deal with the fatalities, and it is tragic, but the long term effects on society and the erosion of our rights and civil liberties will take decades to recover from.

This is not a time of honor.

If people don't stay bloody home, this IS going to be a regular thing.

But that social need that some have developed, is what's going to cost those lives and cause that struggle, so how I could be the one not understanding the ramifications, I fail to see entirely.

I'm basically saying "staying at home is nice, and is doing good for my mental health" and the response I get is "People are dying! Don't you understand that!" I don't see the connection. The underlying cause of WHY people has to stay at home is terrible, but the fact that they do have to stay at home, is what I commented on.

I hate that people are dying, I hate that my parents and wife are at risk, I hate that the healthcare systems around the world are breaking down, and I that people can't just stay home so that those I care about can be safe.

Me enjoying the isolation has no bearing on whether the COVID pandemic will continue for shorter or longer, me not hating to be alone and isolated does not change the course whats happening, and even if it did, it would be in a positive way, because I'm not out there, spreading the virus.

What? Should I feel guilty because something terrible is happening, and it just so happens that a side-effect of that is something I like?

Does that somehow imply that I wish the pandemic to continue or people to die?

I don't know what honor has to do with it.

The article and the response above are about the mental toll of social distancing.

Yes, indeed, and I think the article fails to take into account that while some have a difficult time coping with this, others are doing better than normal.

This comment was surely made in bad faith.

Just because something good came out of this on a personal level does not 'negate' the negative in any way.

Bad things can have some good consequences, however minor.

(See: technological advancement in times of war. Or illegal human experiments impact on science).

You're saying nothing by trying to imply a negative thing is the cause, we are aware.

I certainly can’t live like this. Humans are social creatures.

Correction: you are a social creature. There are humans who are different, OP and myself included.

Someone just said "[HN is very interesting, but it's also a fairly reliable source of some extremely inhumane and self-centered comments.]".

Is this comment a satire reacting to that or is it real?

I honestly can't tell.

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