• VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
    22·
    6 days ago

    We keep asking why the average individuals mental health is on the decline and this is a big part of it.

    Some of us have been doing this since we were children, replacing work with school. The only way you can manage all of this is by multitasking everywhere possible. You only socialize while at work or school, and all the while you’re probably either working on something or you’re on your phone. You clean and tidy at the same time as you cook. You speedrun your showers, a time that should be somewhat relaxing.

    Even assuming you do actually get those full precious 8 hours of sleep, your brain isn’t going to be rested enough.

  • Doomsider@lemmy.world
    311·
    7 days ago

    Let’s see. Earn a living, take care of yourself, take care of your household, and add in taking care of other people. That is only like four full time jobs.

    • nomy@lemmy.zipEnglish
      81·
      6 days ago

      I’m starting to understand all the poly relationships I’m seeing.

  • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
    312·
    7 days ago

    This is because domestic labor, which allows for social reproduction, is unvalued and not compensated.

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
      11·
      6 days ago

      Rich people do in fact pay people to do that stuff. Really one salary needs to be able to support two people, or this society thing just doesn’t work.

      • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        6 days ago

        An alternative is to compensate people for domestic labor performed in their own homes.

          • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            6 days ago

            I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you mean the housing, food and allowance provided by the breadwinner to the homemaker.

            Theres a couple of problems with that. Number one, how tf do you both cut half the jobs and raise the wage by enough to double its present value? You’d have to be able to actually get rid of half the labor base and not have employers gobble up the money saved as profits.

            Number two, how do you avoid the very real class distinctions involved in that arrangement in the past? To put a finer point on it, full time housewife was a descriptor reserved for the upper middle classes and above only.

            Not least, but definitely third: how do you avoid, in a racist and misogynistic society, allowing labor and its benefits to become gendered and racialized?

            What you said might seem like a fair trade for a specific breadwinner and homemaker pair (at a specific time, things change!), but it’s not a fix for a social problem.

              • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
                1·
                6 days ago

                I promise you it’s not. Even in what I’m assuming is an idealized one income nuclear family that you’re alluding to, directly compensating the homemaker for the work required to reproduce that structure just gives the household more resources to distribute.

                It also legitimizes the work of reproducing the socially necessary family structure without excluding homemakers from conversations of policy regarding workers rights.

                Everyone wins.

                I don’t think it’s very smart to exclude race from discussion of domestic labor in the western world especially America.

              • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
                1·
                6 days ago

                Okay, directly compensate people for their domestic labor.

                If that’s a bridge too far or if concerns over efficiency come up, provide community services to make that labor easier and cheaper for everyone.

    • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk
      31·
      6 days ago

      But the idea of a person dedicating their life to domestic labour is becoming rare. Partly because of changing social mores but also it’s difficult to support more than one person on one person’s wage. I have a pretty good income but if someone else lived with me full time not contributing monetarily we’d have to be fairly frugal. But it could allow me to focus on furthering my career and making more money.

      • Gayhitler@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        An alternative to simply paying people to maintain their own households is providing for collective housekeeping services that will do some of the work of housekeeping for people. There are examples of neighborhood laundries, grocery delivery, food preparation and distribution, lawn and handyman services and other stuff in the past.

  • SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zipEnglish
    25·
    7 days ago

    The trick is to not actually work for 8hrs, easier said than done of course, but if you find yourself in that position then take full advantage of it. They won’t bat an eye to replace you, so don’t bat an eye to do your own thing where possible.

    • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
      101·
      7 days ago

      WFH has been a life saver honestly. I make sure to get everything that needs to be done for work done, but now if I finish my daily work or on my lunch I can do dishes, prep dinner, start the laundry. this is time that in office would spent “around the water cooler” or just wasting time. I normally get more work done when I’m at home than in the office tbh.

      • insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world
        4·
        6 days ago

        Yes same! I go to the gym before lunch, I can put laundry on that will finish after work, I can start dinner and leave on a slow cook… I can take deliveries, go to appointments, see my kids after school… Massive quality of life improvements for working at home.

        I also appreciate being able to deal with my body when it isn’t up for being out in smart clothes… Sometimes my body needs loose clothing and easy farts!

  • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
    219·
    7 days ago

    Break it out into 168 hours per week:

    56 hours of sleep
    45 hours of work (include the potential for working a bit longer each day)
    5 hours of commuting to/from work
    6 hours of exercise/gym
    2 hours of grocery shopping
    7 hours of cooking and other food prep
    7 hours of eating
    1 hour of laundry
    2 hours of general cleaning around the house
    2 hours of other general chores

    That’s 133 hours per week. You still have 35 hours for socializing, hobbies, other activities you enjoy, or just plain sitting around and relaxing (with a book, with TV, etc.) if you enjoy that. And some people can fit in part of those needs in terms of overlap: white collar jobs that don’t mind if you buy something for yourself online during the day, restaurant jobs that cover a shift meal, physical jobs or commutes that reduce the amount of time you might need to get exercise outside of work, etc.

    For me, I actually really enjoy cooking (and eating) so I probably spend more time on those than is strictly necessary, but it doesn’t feel like work to me.

    I’m probably lucky in that I spent some time working in restaurants that gave me a ton of kitchen skills (not just the actual ability to prep and cook delicious food quickly, but the sense of meal planning on a strict budget that reduces food waste), and makes me appreciate the regularity of a white collar job schedule that actually fits with circadian rhythms and the flow of the rest of society.

    Kids make it harder, though. A lot of that 35 hours per week carved out gets totally eaten up with a second commute to daycare (5 hours), bedtime routines (7 hours), extracurricular weekend activities (5 hours), and extra cleaning (5 hours), a second load of laundry (1 hour), and extra chores (2 hours), leaving you with only 10 hours per week of hobbies/leisure.

    At that point you’ve gotta find the time from somewhere. I personally dipped to 7 hours per week day of sleep around that time, dropped my gym attendance to around 3 hours per week, and started paying to outsource some of the cleaning (a weekly service) and cooking (more takeout/restaurants) and shopping (more grocery delivery).

    But the magic, for me, was that my kids are really fun. They leave me with less time for other things but I love them and that part feels less like a chore. And they’re a forcing function in that I have to be home when they’re asleep 3-4 hours before my bedtime, when I don’t have anything better to do than clean a bit, do a bit of meal prep, and watch a lot of TV with my spouse.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
      73·
      7 days ago

      Cool, now can you break down Elon’s week? I have always wondered how he can be CEO of two companies, be involved with five other, raise twelve children, be the top player on two major video games, be a meme lord on Xhitter, consume more ketamine than a large rave party, fix the US government, be an amazing designer, and engineering all sorts of technical things.

      • doktormerlin@feddit.org
        2·
        6 days ago

        I’m pretty sure Elon Musk is miserable. He is always raging around, he is annoyed by the slightest critique. I bet he spends most of his free time online, reading articles about himself and hating that everyone hates him

    • doktormerlin@feddit.org
      1·
      6 days ago

      Depending on your exercise it is also time for yourself. I really enjoy being in the gym, listening to music and exercising. Afterwards I reward myself with the Sauna in the gym which makes it even more time for myself.

  • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
    91·
    7 days ago

    It is impossible. You never get to be on top of everything. Since there is always shit that needs to be done. It is often called the productivity myth. More discipline or a better system won’t lead to less work and less stress. Since new things just keep coming.

    You just need to accept that life is like this and that it’s completely impossible to forever finish your todos. So therefore you should just schedule down time and don’t feel guilty that you still need to finish things since it is a never ending stream of things to do anyway. Just prioritize the most important things.