Yeah, I personally don’t want that. I want to be able to log in to mastodon or lemmy without needing a facebook account and be able to interact with my less tech savvy friends and family, as well as get news from journalists/bands/sports teams/etc.

Yeah, I agree, but I also kind of like it? I know it goes against a lot of popular opinion online, and obviously it’s annoying that I have to drive 5 minutes to get to a grocery store or 15 to drop my kid off, but my neighborhood is cut into the middle of the woods so we’re secluded and we get to see lots of wilderness around us. But our houses are close together so we’re all really friendly with each other and have a great community where it feels totally safe to let the kids play outside until far after dark.

It also helps that I love driving, and I specifically love my car, so even though I’ve driven 20K miles / 32K km in the past year, it doesn’t feel like much time wasted because I’ve loved doing it

Funny enough, I’m sure as a net you’re absolutely right but for my family personally it actually means we have to drive more. We have to make two round trips into town each day for my son’s daycare, as opposed to just dropping him off on the way to work and picking him up, so we went from about 30 miles a day driven to about 60. But on the days that my wife’s in the office she can do exactly that.

But yeah, I agree, I would need a MASSIVE raise to consider going back to an office full time. Enough to pay a housekeeper, eat out every day, and cover the added wear and tear on the car, plus parking, etc. I’m saving a fortune by staying home every day, and it’s done wonders for my mental health.

I do miss the collaboration aspect, but I can charge my social batteries on weekly lunch zoom calls with my friends