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by s1artibartfast 641 days ago
I like it

However, the way I view it, having fewer friends from work doesn't imply making more friends outside of work.

I spend 40ish hours the the workplace either way. If I categorically avoid seeking or making friends there, that doesn't mean I'm spending more time looking elsewhere. It just means I'm spending 40hrs/week friendless.

2 comments

I take your point, but to me it doesn't seem like much of that time would be spent in friendship mode anyway, and if you can legitimately call them friends (instead of something more akin to casual acquaintances you met at work and might still have the contact info of or occasionally play games with), you'd need to spend that time outside of work anyway to cultivate those relationships more substantially. Imo there isn't even close to enough time in that 40h block to form enough of a relationship—one that will survive on its own on a regular basis outside that workplace—without also going to a bar after, getting coffee on the weekend, etc..

At least, I'd think the point would be to spend other unrelated time doing other stuff with whoever you have chemistry with, and maybe go so far as to suggest if the only capacity in which you've spent time with someone is at work, it's not really a friendship.

> I spend 40ish hours the the workplace either way

Lets call it 45 or 50 due to commuting. With that said, that seems to be begging the question. If you weren't spending all that time in the workplace or commuting (in other words, if you worked remote), you'd have more time and opportunity to make friends outside of work.

Still seems like a trade of 40 hrs for 10hrs, no?

Of course, none of this stuff is binary time spent.

I'm sorry, I'm not quite following what you mean by "a trade of 40 hrs for 10hrs".

Working remote, for example, you could hang out with friends or family or neighbors in the middle of the day for lunch, the commute savings time is just a bonus.

In theory you could, but I don't think remote work necessarily enables substantially more in terms of mid day relationship building, at least not if you're actually doing anything substantial during the working day and don't want to sacrifice your evening time by working into it.
I'm counting the 40 working hours as possible time with friends.