The state of work & the invasion of the public sphere
Recently I sat on a train on my way to work. This had been my first journey during rush hour in a couple of weeks and it sparked some thoughts. Thoughts on how people’s business and busyness has percolated into the public sphere. This has been a topic I have been exploring for a while and I want to collect some thoughts on it in this post. Let me start by setting the scene on this particular train ride.
As I made my way into the train I was lucky enough to be able to pick a window seat. I had brought along a book to read for the duration of the 40 minutes I was about to spend on the train. The silence in the compartment was a pleasant surprise for me. Most people were busy, either on their phones or laptops. This is a pretty common sight nowadays and I did not think much of it initially. What set off my train of thoughts was a man sat behind me who suddenly started loudly introducing himself and checking whether other people could hear him. I wish I could say it was the first time I had experienced someone participating in a Zoom call while on a train. The sheer disdain for his fellow passengers was remarkable. Possibly even more remarkable was the man did not seem to care or notice that the whole compartment was hearing his comments. Comments on how his “government position did not allow him to make any guarantees due to the EU tender process” but “he would offer all his support” to the people on the call, whom he addressed as his “valued partners”, to help them receive the government funding they were applying for. The most baffling aspect of the whole thing was the fact it was said out loud to a completely full, but quiet, train compartment. Each individual there had unwillingly become a witness to this and no one appeared to find this odd. The fact that this has somehow become commonplace is what I want to explore first.
Many people appear to confuse business with busyness, mistaking activity for productivity. Somehow having a calendar full of meetings , whether virtual or in-person, appears to have become an end rather than a means. Don’t get me wrong; it is incredibly important to talk with co-workers, customers, and other stakeholders. (In fact I’m a fan of silo-breaking and would highly recommend Gillian Tett’s The Silo Effect to anyone interested in this.) But only talking about work is not the same as doing work. Henry David Thoreau captured this very aptly when he wrote about busyness (after the word business had taken on a slightly different meaning):
“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?”.
Thoreau posits contents matter. I wholeheartedly agree. But his words also imply busyness, when applied to the right topic, is the way to go. I would argue the opposite.: it is key to have non-busy moments. Going for a stroll, a run, of simply a quiet coffee are excellent ways to process thoughts. Oftentimes physical separation from work leads to emotional separation, allowing people to contemplate their activities. Personally these are the moments where I get clarity on some of the issues I might be facing professionally or personally. (For more on the joys of contemplation I would highly recommend Han Byung Chul’s Vita Contemplativa.) As Nietzsche wrote:
“Do not be deceived! The busiest people harbour the greatest weariness, their restlessness is weakness—they no longer have the capacity for waiting and idleness.”
There is an important distinction to make here; to not confuse contemplation with doing anything but work. Most people would simply spend time not spent on meetings or emails by being otherwise busy, e.g. on social media or checking the news (though I do not think it applies to everyone, Carlo Dobelli’s Stop reading the News discusses this nicely). Nietzsche’s point is that idleness is by design uncomfortable.
The second point to be made is that for contemplation to be productive it needs to be accompanied by deep work. This combination allows for both in-depth bouts of work (where the actual work gets done) as well as for those moments of serendipity we need to zoom out and place that deep work into the right framework. The balance is critical, both for productivity and mental health. As Horatius wrote:
“Non semper arcum tendit Apollo.”
Modern work culture is filled with proxies for productivities, such as meetings or emails (and don’t even get me started on ridiculous applications as Jira or Slack). The quantifiable nature of these proxies gives a false sense of achievement. Yet they have nothing to do with real productivity, which is hardly quantifiable for most of the knowledge-work many people do for a living. Anyone willing to step away from Neoliberal Taylorism is going to have to embrace the uncomfortable idleness inherent to real productivity. I was lucky enough to get this lesson when I just 20, working for a professor whose motto was:
“We do not believe in counting the hours, we make the hours count.”
While it may be cheesy, it drives home the message I am trying to convey; it is better to spend three hours working deep than to have eight hours of meetings, calls, and emails (for more on deep work wholeheartedly recommend Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Slow Productivity). Observant (and somewhat impatient) readers may point I have not yet even started to address the second part of the subtitle of this post and they would be right to do so. Luckily for them, it won’t take me as long as the first part.
The decrease of public spaces is a societal problem and it is an obvious result of neoliberal policies of privatization. Lack of public spaces such as community centres contribute to the loneliness epidemic and the societal degradation that results from increasing individualism. Fundamentally public spaces are about connection and community between people. The rise of cell phones and teleworking adds another pressure on local community and connections. By choosing to engage with (people elsewhere through) your device you are taking away any possibility of being in the moment or connecting with people around you. One could argue that is a choice people should be free to make. I would be inclined to agree (although I still feel it is a worrying trend). The crux however, is that those choices directly affect other present in that particular public space. The loud hitting of keys on laptops is now inextricably linked to being in libraries or coffee shops. That means trying to concentrate on reading or problem solving in libraries is nigh impossible. As every public space is a becoming a co-working space, there are almost no public spaces left to engage in deep work. While those lucky enough to have private spaces that are conducive to deep work won’t be duped by this, it does hit the less fortunate in society who do not have those private spaces.
Holding virtual meetings in public spaces is the ultimate middle finger to those around you. The Taylorist tendency to be busy with meetings coupled with the decrease of public spaces and the rise of teleworking combine into the absurd reality of people holding Zoom calls on trains.
I want to end this piece with a call. Not a Zoom call in which I involve all those present around me, but a call for more quiet and contemplation. Use your time on trains, in coffee shops, or simply strolling around town to enjoy your surroundings and let your thoughts wander. It will help you escape the productivity trap and lead to real, slow, productivity and it will allow those around you to do the same.
Clancularius 