I think work and commuting adds to this. Like in the bay, imagine if people stopped commuting going from sf to oakland wouldn't be a nightmare. Now you can visit people.
Or if you have flexible lunch time and free time from commuting you can do local things, take classes, visit stuff, do social things. Instead we're stuck waking up early to get ready, commuting, eating lunch at work, commuting back, prepping dinner. The day is almost shot except for an hour or two in the evening.
Commuting is a choice for most tech workers in the bay area. It's easy to get your commute down to 30 minutes or less if you want. I've got mine down to 20 most days.
I do what you say: take classes, do social things. And yet my most lasting friendships have come from work.
Maybe I'm the minority, or maybe it's the constant excuse to be around together that forms more lasting relationships.
A 30 minute commute doesn't really tell the whole story though. Theres still the hour of getting ready, waking up, alarm clocks. Ive used an alarm clock maybe once or twice and thats because someone scheduled a meeting at 9am. now i make breakfast while doing things like check email in the morning.
I'm not sure how that has to do with WFH. I still have to get ready, wake up, set an alarm clock. Except now I have to cook breakfast, clean the resulting dishes, and brew my coffee. Even more work before the day starts.
Are you saying that your company cares more about if you're in your seat at a certain time during normal days? Because that's a completely separate issue than WFH or not.
I think it just depends on your personality type. my closest friends are mostly people that I just happened to spend a lot of time with and realized later that I really enjoyed their company. I find that if I do some activity with the explicit goal of making friends, I end up making shallow connections at best.
I think work and commuting adds to this. Like in the bay, imagine if people stopped commuting going from sf to oakland wouldn't be a nightmare. Now you can visit people.
Or if you have flexible lunch time and free time from commuting you can do local things, take classes, visit stuff, do social things. Instead we're stuck waking up early to get ready, commuting, eating lunch at work, commuting back, prepping dinner. The day is almost shot except for an hour or two in the evening.