When I was a child, I never really thought much about what all the adults around me were doing. But I assumed they were doing important stuff. They all seemed to be busy working. Today, I see things a little differently. I now think that at least half of people are very busy but not really doing anything. Sure, there are some important jobs but there is a lot that is not.
Some Employment Causes Harm
In fact, it’s even worse than it sounds. Not only is much of our work just to keep busy but at least a good portion of that work is also downright harmful. They and we would be better off if they did not work at all. It’s not their fault, they are required to work in order to be able to meet their day to day expenses. Their employers require this work because it brings in profit. Thus, many employees are wasting their time and making life worse for all of us. Take for example what’s happening in much of the food industry. Most of the food that is sold is ultra-processed and meant to exploit customer addiction for maximum profit. Similarly, as I’ve previously argued, while the transportation sector has improved our lives in some ways, it has also engineered out the need for us to use our legs in a meaningful way.
The same can be said of the construction industry. Houses of course have been increasing in size over the decades without any corresponding increase in happiness. We can go sector by sector across a range of industries to see that many of our jobs (possibly even most jobs) provide no real value. They do not enhance our happiness. They might even be detracting from our health, well-being and our happiness.
Workers are Quiet Quitting
Statistically, workers themselves acknowledge this truth. According the State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report nearly 6 in 10 employees are “quiet quitting”. That is while they are physically present they don’t know what to do or why it matters. Even when they report they find meaning in their work that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for society.
The Science of Wellbeing Tells us: Time for Change in Work
We know from the science of happiness that among the biggest factors that impact happiness are: a nourishing diet for our body, exercise, sleep, time spent outdoors in nature. Regrettably, modern day employment seems to be actively sabotaging our ability to enjoy these. Thus, today too much of our work aims to take away many of the best things in life. It’s time to recognize the madness, consume less, invest more, become liberated from our employers so that we can work for the good of society rather than to make profit for our employers so that we can “make ends meet”.
As a society we’ve become a hundred times more productive than our ancestors at the prodding of our political leaders. The only problem was, we were never just cogs in a wheel interested in productivity. We are interested in our health, wellbeing and ultimately our happiness. Instead we’ve taken away from those very elements most likely to bring us good health and happiness. It’s time for a paradigm shift, one that prioritizes human flourishing over senseless productivity.
BOTTOM LINE: THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
- As John Maynard Keynes said a century ago, people of our time ought to be largely independent of our employers for our income – unfortunately, due to “mindless consumerism”, we are not.
- Mindless consumerism is the underlying reason leading to the rise of chronic disease for 3 major reasons:
- It ties us to dependence on our employers and modern day employment is a health hazard for most (in part due to the sedentary nature of most jobs).
- It has led to environmental changes toxic to our wellbeing:
- (a). We evolved in and are best suited to natural environments and instead we live in increasingly artificial environments.
- (b). Overconsumption has lead us to engineer out the need for meaningful use of our legs for ambulation.
- Finally, it transforms workers to work with blinders on – instead of working for the product or service and receiving money as a side effect, workers focus on making money and the product or service is instead the side effect. The results (with respect to health) is that “food” is no longer food but changed to maximize pleasure and extract profit in spite of the toxicity to our health.
- Based on the science of wellbeing one can derive the philosophy that once basic needs are met, “The best things in life are free” therefore —>
- Most people can live far below their means without sacrificing happiness AND by investing the rest, they can become financially independent of their employers enabling them to be —>
- Happier. Healthier. Wealthier. More engaged. Simply better.
