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LowBarometer t1_ixidtcv wrote

Reply to comment by pete1901 in On The Rising Non-Working Class (And What Their Despair Says About Us All) by capcaunul

Why does everyone need to work anyway? Why not just hang around? I mean, it's not for me, but I suppose if I couldn't find a job I liked, I'd rather hang around and live off the dole.

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Nimelennar t1_ixkgolo wrote

Live off the dole and do what, though?

The horrible part about what I read isn't "people not working," it's "spending the time that that freed up staring at a screen all day."

If I couldn't work, I'd like to think that I'd write, or sing, or dance, or kayak, or hike, or...

And hopefully along the way, I'd find someone to do all these fun things with.

But as someone who has spent several years struggling with depression, I'm aware of the risk that I'd spend that time doing, well, nothing. Arguing with people on the internet. Watching videos criticizing movies I don't ever intend to see. Doomscrolling through page after page of bad news. Because that's what a lot of my free time during Covid was spent doing.

If that's what "hang around" consists of, I think I'd rather work. It may not be pleasant and it may not be fulfilling, but at least it' something to do.

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