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Comment by JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B | Hacker News Reader

What kind of job do you have?

I may be completely wrong, but I'm in France and it's mostly older people (from the age of 30 or 35) who want WFH. Young people don't know they can ask for a higher salary, and, apparently enjoy working in an office or open-space.

Older developers wants personal time, and some want to take care of their kids and family which is way easier if you're at home.

At my last interview, the boss asked if full-remote wouldn't be a problem for me, hinting that it may cause loneliness or psychological issues. I told her that I had friends and could see them whenever I wanted which is why I don't miss offices.

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I think a lot of the younger generations wanting in-office work comes from living alone. I did WFH for a ~2 years recently and found that even when I was visiting with friends most days, those 8 hours spent alone, in my bedroom (the only place a desk would fit in my apartment) were really isolating.

I wound up switching to a coworking space - a local alternative to wework. Didn't directly interact with people there most days but just having a space outside my small apartment and being _around_ other people made a huge difference for my mental health.

Of course, if you have family at home or even roommates, this may be much less of a concern for you.

I run a progressive online coworking community that I don’t want to try monetizing until I started asking why I’m unable to get a better career job (I can’t do Leetcode and buckle under interview pressure when non straight forward things are asked.

I was thinking of asking for donations to cover my own coworking physical spot. The reason I thought maybe it doesn’t help is because the last time I was there I wasn’t talking to people really. I thought that meant it wasn’t for me. However the decent ~12 min drive, getting away from the house, being around people, it was really nice.

The online coworking on Zoom suffices sometimes but not when I’m already on there all the time helping manage it.

—

I have people at home but the negatives outweigh the positive when I’m there all the time instead of only a couple hours a day outside sleep.

Thanks for getting me back into this idea

You did not consider in your last sentence that there are also people out there who are different from you.

I'm sorry my 200 word anecdote-based comment did not account for 100% of possible personal circumstances. Please contact customer service if you'd like to request a refund.

> I think a lot of the younger generations wanting in-office work comes from living alone.

lol young people in 2023 can't afford to live alone.

even entry level FAANG salaries in NYC or SF mean you're still living with a roommate if you're anywhere near your work campus.

As a young person, I can afford to live alone. I'm definitely privileged in this regard (and don't live in NYC or SF) though.

Even living with one roommate I felt the isolation, since my office was still my bedroom. Placing my work desk in my bedroom was probably one of the worst moves I've made for my mental health; if my apartment had space to make a shared office I may have had a difference experience and therefore a different opinion.

I think a 15 minute walk to a low-commitment workspace was a good fit for me, but obviously I can't speak for everyone.

Maybe another factor is that (some?) older people have trouble filtering out background noise: [0]

[0] https://brainscan.uwo.ca/research/research_summaries/BJHE051...

Or maybe younger/less experienced people feel anxious about competing with everybody in the remote market so they don't even bother and go for the less competitive in-office market.

> I told her that I had friends and could see them whenever I wanted

Can you see them during the half of your waking life spent working?

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