Despite All Our Rage...

Oops. It's been since July since I posted something. Crazy how I keep thinking I want to write, but then I never actually do it...

A while ago, I found this book in the used bookstore. Every now and then, I pop into Jackson Street Books and just sort of rifle around. I don't usually have any one thing I'm looking for, and I don't worry myself with checking reviews and whatnot for books I buy there. I go in, pick up something which I've solely judged by its cover (or title), read the inside jacket for subject matter and maybe a page or two to be sure the writing style doesn't make me want to stick sharp things in my eyes, and boogie on out of there. After checking my bank balance... so anyway, that book came home with me.

I haven't finished it yet, but as the title suggests it's about the acceleration of just about everything. No lie. I just got through a chapter where it talked about how the work environment of the average American has changed over time- more hours, less compensation, more overtime or off-books work, less leisure time, more uninterrupted access to employees/coworkers through electronic means, less quiet time, more time spent commuting, less time to cook healthy meals, less time to socialize, less vacation time... less living. This book was released in 1999, too, so what's crazy is to look at the hurry-up-edness the author had witnessed at that time, and realize that with all the innovations for productivity and corporate claims of upholding a work/life balance, the tools available for easing the average worker's workloads haven't done squat to actually free up some time or actually make the worker more productive. Which I kinda can't wrap my head around in some ways.

Why, in 2012, are we stuck in cages? We are... most of us get up in the morning at a specific time, to a specific and terrible sound. We move ourselves from home to some other location with arrival at a specific time. We sit in a specific area of a specific building. We meet with specific people about specific topics at another specific (and generally inconvenient for at least one person) time. We do our tasks for a specific number of hours. And we leave at a specific time, to return home, where other types of specific duties wait, but often go ignored. We're boxed in, for sure. And it makes no sense any more. It's not relevant to today's technologies.

This is the age of lightning-fast electronic transmission. Of having the ability to communicate with someone down the street or on the other side of the world with the same level of effort. Of being able to manage most tasks online wherever there is a connection available. We answer our cell phones and check our work emails during "non-work" hours. Most folks have resorted to mostly email-based communications anyway. We have 24-hour grocery stores, 24-hour banking, 24-hour restaurants, 24-hour gyms, 24-hour communication and news and bombardment of information. For all intents and purposes, we've become a 24-hour society with a 24-hour workday.

So why are we all having to drag ourselves out of bed with the help of an alarm clock, relocate to a place a couple miles (or many miles, if you aren't as lucky as I am) away, and cram a bunch of tasks that aren't really required to be done in that context within the confines of 9 am and 5 pm? I of course agree with the argument of company continuity and wanting coworkers to know each other. I agree that every now and then we all need to sit down together and talk about shit in person and brainstorm and all that. But a lot of these things can be accomplished in a day or two. Or at least in smaller 'office hours' sessions. The rest? No strict deadline, outside of "in a timely manner". What difference does it make if I write a press release (which I email for second opinions, FYI... hurry up and wait) at 9 am in my freezing "office" (which is not an office, but a cubby where I can't get one freaking second to think without interruption) or at 4 pm in the quiet, comfortable environment of my house or wherever I think I'll work best?

I do like the social aspect of the office. I just don't see the true value in forcing it on everyone in today's age. And the social part of the office is actually pretty detrimental to true productivity. Anyway, going back to my press release question... which one's better? Well, for me, the one at 4 pm will be a better written, more creative piece. I'm not at all a morning person, and I think a big part of the population is with me. I can go to bed at 8 pm, and I still will have the damnedest time getting up and moving if the sun's not up yet. It's just not natural for me. I'd be best suited to wake up sans alarm clock around 9:30-10 am and start working around 11. That's when I become a fully-functional, productive human being rather than a fuzzy-headed, overly-caffeinated, brain-blocked zombie. Though ideally I wouldn't work until 7 pm. The thing is, though, that I most likely wouldn't need to. Because I'd be that much more productive. It's not the amount of time you put into something that matters, it's the amount of care and the desire to do a good job. It's having ownership over what you do and being happy to do what you do.

Rather than look at total hours worked, people could be reviewed simply on whether or not the job was completed as necessary, and whether or not they actually did a good job. For this to work, though, everyone would have to work on salary. People getting paid hourly will milk that clock for all it's worth if they work too quickly and clear out the ol' To Do list before the whistle blows. High levels of productivity don't really mesh with hourly pay unless someone regularly has to work more than 40 hours a week; then it's a godsend. But for those in jobs like mine, where most of my tasks can be done anywhere and at any time of day? Salary and flexible work hours would be amazing. Just get stuff done. Meet with the folks you need to meet with. Maintain communication. So there's no meetings and I would rather take Sunday/Monday as my weekend? Big deal. So I don't have meetings and I just have to update a bunch of crap on the website and answer community emails? I'll get up when I get up, get on it, and work until I'm done. And it'll be good.

I guess I'm just amazed at how far we've come with our devices and connections and fancy-schmancy things that keep us going 24/7. And I don't see why the general office workplace hasn't modified over time to use these things to its advantage, all while ensuring fitter, happier, more productive employees. It's the current, yet outdated, system that makes a worker feel like a pig in a cage. On antibiotics.

Everything has accelerated. It's accelerated to a point that we might be about to lap ourselves. What happens then? Does the universe unmake itself? Or do we realize that we have ways to stay fast, while using our modern tools to get back to a type of slowness of lifestyle we haven't seen in 50 years? Our devices should be making life easier. They're not. So what now?