It's a wildly different thing, though.

Married vs. unmarried means you have a companion, but you still got the same demands on your life as before. You might have to arrange schedules, but that's about it. Your day has just as much free time as before, you can stay out just as long as before and your social opportunities aren't restricted due to the fact that you are married.

In fact, there's no difference at all between married vs. unmarried and in a relationship vs single. Getting married changes nothing in that regard.

Having kids, on the other hand, changes everything. Now your social activities are limited by your responsibilities towards the child(ren). Can't stay out until 2am if you know the kids will be awake at 7am and will wake you up 3 times in between. Can't take a random day off and do a day trip if the kid needs to be at school that day. Can't visit friends after work together with your partner if the kid needs to be in bed at 7pm. It's a massive limiter on social opportunities.

At the same time, spending time with the kids is pretty great in its own right, and that's what the article touches upon. If you are married but don't have kids, you might get your fill with your partner after work. If you have 5h or so every day with your partner from getting back from work until going to bed, that's a ton of quality time.

But if you return from work at 5pm and the kids go to bed at 7pm, then pretty much all the interaction you get is eating and preparing the kids for bed.

As a father, working from home means I can see my kids grow up, especially in their earlier years. It means I was there when they took their first steps. I'm there when they start talking. I can actually spend time with them, get close to them, be part of them growing up. I'm there when they cry, when they say the funniest stuff. You know, be with them when it matters.

With my wife, on the other hand, as much as I love her, I'm not going to miss a ton of really important things if I'm not around her 24/7. On the contrary, she's happy for any bit of actual alone time she gets.

I think it's funny that I had the opposite experience. My coworkers who had kids couldn't wait to get back to the office, while the few of us youngsters who didn't wanted nothing but to keep working remotely. Probably why those few of us left immediately when it became clear they were going to force everyone back.

oh yea heard this question asked in reddit on multiple instances, the ones that dont stay at home tend to waste time at watercooler chat, gossip,,,etc, not productive work, just that interaction they cant live without.

Yeah, you gotta have friends that are close by and you can get out with or they can come over. If you don't... Sometimes it feels lonely. But to be honest, you kinda get used to it.

the reasons they give are often super selfish, it was asked on many subs over the pandemic, they want to interact with said co-workers even if its unproductive and said coworkers do not want to make chit chat with said male workers.

probably because they dont want to deal with thier kids 24/7, screaming,c rying,,,etc.

if you hear the shit coworkers talk behind peoples back, you really dont want to interact with them most of the time, its just to save face by being nice, eventhough coworkers might not want to talk to you, someone like op might be annoying to them for whatever reason.

I'm guessing you've got a study that backs that assertion up as well?

You people live such lonely lonely lives. I can't imagine existing just hating everyone like you. It's quite sad.

Trauma bonding

Imagine being this vitriolic in response to someone's personal anecdote.

The person you responded to said they did find a sense of community like the study describes. Nowhere in there did they argue that anyone should be forced to go back to an office nor even that an office spot be made available to people.

Tbf there's definitely some confirmation bias in there because a person who didn't enjoy being remote probably wouldn't seek that type of job

Itt: cognitive disonannce.

The study isn't bs. Lemmy users just won't accept that they don't even come close to representing the average individual.

I actually don't like my coworkers very much I definitely wouldn't hang out with them so not having to be near them all day is a benefit.

It's not even that they are bad people, it's just that they are people who I wouldn't choose to hang out with.

Or if we use less adversarial language, this study is far from universal and its findings should be applied with the understanding that not all people will not match those who were in the study. As with most things, far more research is needed to get a thorough understanding.

I used to work for a bunch of lawyers. I would happily take a fire axe to every single one of them.

They really didn't like remote working and tried to put a stop to it and "sense of community" was their excuse as well, but it was really about control.

It would be interesting if they did this study again in an environment like that, where people aren't really friendly with their co-workers. I imagine they would get a vastly different result.

This study may not be BS in particular, for that one case, but it is BS in general

Unions haven't got anything to do with it. Unions are about protecting you from unfair business practises, it's not a social club, nor do they try to be.

No union without social interaction to found and preserve it. It's why small businesses are much worse at ganging up on big businesses that exploit them than workers are at ganging up on bosses: Businesses aren't people, they don't have social interactions. Workers are and do, thus unions can and do form.

Just because you have anecdotal evidence of the contrary doesn't mean it can't be true, quantitatively. I, too, am a childless man - although I do have a wife - and don't resonate with this, but that doesn't mean I'll just cast aside the findings. Many, especially young, men are unhappy in their everyday, partly due to a lack of sense od community in the "modern" world.

I work in a bar, and I love seeing most of my coworkers. I obviously can't speak on the WFH aspect, as it'd be impossible for me, but enjoying the company of the people you work with isn't a foreign concept, especially in the service industry

As a childless woman, SAMEEEEEE. My dog is a fantastic coworker.