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Comment by THX1137 | Hacker News Reader

> forcing me to go out every day and talk to human beings face to face, even just little things like making sure I was showered and dressed every day

This part is strange to me. I've worked from home for about 10 years and I've never once had an issue with twice-daily showering, meeting people face-to-face, going out for coffee, going outdoors, going to the gym, etc. The fact I can just go sit in a park, on a hiking trail, or whatever and work there is a genuine "killer app" for me. I'm surprised at people who tell me that they are isolated by home work when there are so many opportunities for social and natural connection everywhere...

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There are different kinds of people, and a considerable % of folks rely on some foundational structure in their day-to-day to drive many of their other habits.

For a lot of people, that was commuting to a job outside of their home.

> I'm surprised at people who tell me that they are isolated by home work when there are so many opportunities for social and natural connection everywhere...

It begs the question of "with who"? If you have family/spouses then it makes sense. if you have a social circle it comes down to if they are also wfh and have time to meetup for lunch or whatnot. Which is iffy these days. If you have no one... well, you don't have anyone taking you away from the computer and are tempted to just stay at your workstation. Nothing else is waiting for you.

I am very jealous of you.

I'm lucky that I can do something that aligns with how I like to live and work. I guess my question to you is why you don't seek to return to the office yourself? I might not understand the attraction of the commute but "different strokes for different folks" is like a bedrock of western society.

Unless you live in a self isolated monastery you have neighbors and the only person stopping you from making friends is yourself.

neighbors farther along in life than I. Story of my life, pretty much. I'm in an awkward gernation of being some 10 years older than a lot of other kidsa my parents were friends with. But still 15 ish years behind the parent generation with everyone having kids and families to tend to. And that's before getting into shared interests like tech or art or whatnot, which further filters out potential friends.

I dunno. Maybe this is simply the issues of a suburb where I'm clearly not at the heart of some urban sprawl.

There is always an excuse to not to do something and you seem very determined to be alone and miserable, so have at it.

And society wonders why males never open up. Yes, perhaps I can fix this issue, once and for all.

I'm a male and was miserable + depressed for quite a while. I decided to seek therapy and experiences I wanted to, well, experience.

It has nothing to do with males "not opening up," I talk to a lot of men and no one has issues sharing their emotions because we are all healthy humans and understand that life is a struggle but with social relationships it becomes bearable.

You aren't opening up at all, you're actually closing in and refusing to do anything to better yourself or seek professional therapy.

Therapy takes money, I've been short on money the last few years. It is not for the lack of trying that I do not open up to professionals.

And yes, I feel it is opening up to say how I "don't belong" because I'm in this awkward age group of "too old for childhood friends". That's not something I share in my personal life. So hear it dismissed with "well you just want to be miserable, screw off" sure is motivating, right?

But I guess this is America. If I don't have money to fix my problems, I'm not worth acknowledging.

>we are all healthy humans and understand that life is a struggle but with social relationships it becomes bearable.

I envy you. I am clearly not.

I mean in which lucky place of the planet you live in? I dunno u but where I live it's 40 degree celsius out there and all over europe. I'm a remote worker and most time of the year going outside is just not possibile, over heat or too cold or raining like it never did before(climate change you know)

In Canada - and it does get cold here, and hot here. You can't work outside every single day, but you also do not have to stay at home or indoors every single day. I lean toward being outdoors for as much as possible of the year. There's no perfection about it.

There is a lot of research that spending time in nature, even if the nature is not ideal (bare trees, winter, bad weather, too hot), has measurable impacts on human cognition, memory, and similar mental benefits. It's not even correlated with mood improvements: even if you return indoors more miserable than you left due to the weather, you still measurably mentally benefit from spending time in nature.

Find some shade and don't stress it Europal! (I hate climate change too.)

Not the person you're replying to, but this is genuinely the killer feature of the UK. Yes, we get heat waves and more of them now, but it's much better than mainland Europe. Especially if you stay away from London (which I would recommend).

You'll be amazed when you hear about scandinavia.

Genuinely tempted to move to Iceland

You live somewhere where you can't go outside "most of the year"? Did we evolve on the same planet?

You realize that humans are an invasive species in most places they currently reside, right?

I'm not sure about that, I've been to the African savannah and I didn't find it particularly hospitable. My ancestors adapted to a different climate.

I’m don’t know how to say this, but if you’re claiming that there’s a place anywhere in Europe where going outside is “not possible” for more than a handful of days of the year (like extreme heatwaves), you definitely have some kind of problem that other people don’t have. And I mean it, it isn’t normal to be this scared of going outside.

The previous poster doesn’t realize he is part of the problem. He wants everyone to go back to the office so that he can see people face to face again and have the social pressure to wash himself. Makes you wonder why no one wants to be his friend?

If you are ever in a situation where you are alone and no person works for you, realize you are most likely the problem. It took me a while to figure it out and it’s hard to make friends that you resonate and align with. But there are billions of people around the world and unless you live in a small village, there are always people looking to strike a conversation; and some of those will make good/reliable friends.

> Makes you wonder why no one wants to be his friend?

Wow, what a way to be bitter and defensive.

Dude. This is too mean. I'm a real person.

The poster didn't say they want everyone to go back to the office, they said they preferred to work in the office. Maybe cool off before bashing

Thank you, but I didn't even say I prefer it, I definitely prefer working from home. I tried to say that it has been harmful over the last 12 years.

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