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I’ve written before about the notion of compensated slavery, which is deeply tied to the “always on” culture that a lot of bosses demand these days. The screenshot above is from this report on digital presenteeism, which also has a corresponding documentary (!) about “the productivity paradox.” Essentially: we have all these tools nowadays, and stuff is supposed to be so great and automated, but a lot of people seem absolutely miserable with their jobs, the general economy isn’t that productive, and we keep seeing articles about record quit rates. WTF?
I think you probably need to start this discussion by thinking about the role of control, which is really what most “knowledge work” is about (and some non-knowledge work). People want some degree of control over their lives, and as their lives shift, they want to hang on to any rocks that resemble control. If you have three kids and your wife has stopped paying attention to you, or you have one kid and you think your husband might be straying, or if dinner conversation is now only about child activities, or if you’re barren without kids and hitting the bars too much, etc… in all these situations, you can feel like there is less control. When many people feel that way, they want more control, and the easiest place to exercise control is work, because work is largely organized around fiefdoms and other ridiculous, outdated notions…
