[l_theanine]

I’ve been reading about microbiomes and things like that over the past year, and I suspect there’s a biological aspect to a lot of mental health issues in workplaces. Certainly the pandemic has renewed public interest in it, but I think to put it in caveman terms: sick people leave sick germs where they go.

I haven’t read this paper yet, but it looks pretty cool so far. The abstract certainly makes it seem worth the read.

We seem to think ourselves as further removed from meatspace than we really are. We’re a lot more like colonies of ants, I think. What attacks the ant, attacks the colony.

[perrygeo]

> there's a biological aspect to a lot of mental health issues in workplaces

how do you explain the same phenomenon occurring in remote workplaces?

I agree there's a biological aspect to it. But it's clearly "contagious" over the internet and thus by human communication, not germs.

[l_theanine]

Oh well I didn’t say I thought it was mutually exclusive. Germs aren’t the only part of working a shit job. Whether it’s in person, over a video call, or over email, if your supervisor is a dickhead then your team will be unhappy.

I was thinking primarily about people who work indoors, in rooms with poor circulation. I’d wager those people are sicker more often, unwell more often, and obese more often. That’s all I meant.