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Comment by kdmccormick | Hacker News Reader

Sure, on the surface, that's ~6 minutes "won back" during lockdown... but time commuting and time working are not equatable. Speaking for myself, my commute is a time to focus on something simple, reflect, and listen to the radio or podcasts. Work, while more interesting, is infinitely more mentally and emotionally taxing.

Also, lunch at the office can be a nice time to take a break and socialiaze, whereas lunch at home can turn into eating in front of one's laptop.

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There are winners and losers here for sure. Long commutes are gone but many people relied on their commute keeping their work hours more strictly bounded. You’re right that the the office camaraderie is mostly gone—-assuming your office ever had any! I do miss lunchtime chats with coworkers—-and morning chit chat as we settle into the day. Unfortunately as more people shift their hours to better fit their different lives the possibility of a lunchtime connect goes away entirely.

But, this has given me an idea to try and start a lunchtime video chat at work. It might be harder with teammates in different timezones, and God forbid should it ever become mandatory. But it sounds nice in theory...

We’ve done the social lunch thing on video chat and while it has been nice it can also add to overall fatigue of being in camera and in front of a computer all day. It also doesn’t scale that well in terms of number of people. Still though, having it there as an optional way to socialize has been a net positive

Your job will demand an always-online webcam at your desk, to ensure you're sufficiently miserable.

Commuting by train, I agree! But when I commuted by car in the past, it was a time to languish in my vehicle, parked on the highway, wondering why a drive normally taking 15 minutes on weekends instead takes 60 minutes on a work day. Definitely not a de-stresser for me!

I hate commuting and even though mine is as best 30 minutes door to door on a train I still think I’m benefitting less.

The brain solves its creative problems when you can just sit back and space out, I’m not longer forced to do that and it’s going to take extra discipline to wake up earlier than I have to then add a new routine in to get that.

Just to add, about half of my 25-minute commute is walking. So that’s some exercise I still need to make up.

>Work, while more interesting, is infinitely more mentally and emotionally taxing.

Wow, your commute must be really nice :)

It was certainly the most stressful part of my day.

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