+
Business

Woman uses common sense to masterfully debunk the logic behind the eight-hour workday

Woman uses common sense to masterfully debunk the logic behind the eight-hour workday
via AustisticCommProf/TikTok and Philo Nordlund/Flickr

It's hard to imagine what it was like working during the Industrial Revolution. People commonly labored 12 to 14 hour days, six days a week, in unhealthy conditions, and children weren't spared from the misery.

In the late 1800s, there was a movement in the United States to shorten the average workday and a popular slogan suggested that the correct way to spend a day was "8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what you will."

The fight for shorter workdays would be a long, bloody battle until finally, in 1940, Congress officially set the American workweek at 40 hours.


A lot has changed in the past 80 years and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how and where people work. Over the past 18 months, many have gone from laboring in offices to working from home. And many who worked in the service industry are rethinking their professions altogether.

Eight Hour Day Banner, Melbourne, 1856. via Wikimedia Commons


TikTokker AutisticCommProf posted a video about why she thinks the "8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what you will" slogan shouldn't apply in 2021. The crux of her argument is that a big chunk of our "8 hours for what you will" time is actually spent on work-related activities.

Her video was in response to a viral tweet from Jarrel, a mental health advocate, who believes that the nine-to-five workday forces us to be in constant work mode.

Here's AutisticCommProf's response.


@ndcommlion

#greenscreen #capitalismsucks #capitalism #worklife #worklifebalance #fightfor15 #eattherich #generalstrikeoct15 #generalstrike

"As we can see, nine to five literally gives(s) you no time to collect yourself before have to go to bed and go back to work the next day," she says in the video, reiterating Jarrel's point.

AutisticCommProf makes a great point about lunch breaks, saying that eight hours on the clock is actually nine because "employers don't want to pay you for lunch." So many of us are really on a "nine to six or an eight to five" job schedule.

AutisticCommProf also takes time to factor in commute times, which are just under an hour a day for the average American. She also considers the time that it takes for someone to get ready in the morning, which is even more of a burden on women.

"So now we're looking at 11 hours that are devoted to your workday," she says. That means that the old adage should be updated for 2021 to read "11 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 5 hours for what you will."

The solution? She believes that commutes and getting ready should be factored into one's work hours and that the average workday should be "three to four hours a day," but says that's an "entirely separate video."

The turn-of-the-century labor movement fought hard to promote our common humanity by eventually giving us the eight-hour workday. But now it looks like we've arrived at a new era where technology, productivity and a renewed focus on work-life balance have many questioning whether eight hours a day, five days a week is really in our best interests.

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

Keep Reading Show less
via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

Keep Reading Show less
Image from Wikimedia Commons .

Van Gogh’s Starry Night.



Van Gough never got to enjoy his own historic success as an artist ( even though we've been able to imagine what that moment might have looked like). But it turns out that those of us who have appreciated his work have been missing out on some critical details for more than 100 years.

I'm not easily impressed, OK?

I know Van Gogh was a genius. If the point of this were "Van Gogh was a mad genius," I would not be sharing this with you.
Keep Reading Show less

Christine Kesteloo has one big problem living on a cruise ship.

A lot of folks would love to trade lives with Christine Kesteloo . Her husband is the Chief Engineer on a cruise ship, so she gets to live on the boat pretty much for free as the “wife on board.” For Christine, life is a lot like living on a permanent vacation.

“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it's often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don't cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

Living an all-inclusive lifestyle seems like paradise, but it has some drawbacks. Having access to all-you-can-eat food all day long can really have an effect on one’s waistline. Kesteloo admits that living on a cruise ship takes a lot of self-discipline because the temptation is always right under her nose.

Keep Reading Show less
Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Women do better when they have female friends.

Madeleine Albright once said , "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." It turns out that might actually be a hell on Earth, because women just do better when they have other women to rely on, and there's research that backs it up.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that women who have a strong circle of friends are more likely to get executive positions with higher pay. "Women who were in the top quartile of centrality and had a female-dominated inner circle of 1-3 women landed leadership positions that were 2.5 times higher in authority and pay than those of their female peers lacking this combination," Brian Uzzi writes in the Harvard Business Review .

Part of the reason why women with strong women backing them up are more successful is because they can turn to their tribe for advice. Women have to face different challenges than men, such as unconscious bias, and being able to turn to other women who have had similar experiences can help you navigate a difficult situation. It's like having a road map for your goals.

Keep Reading Show less

Millennials are now old enough to seriously reflect on life.

It seems like only yesterday a millennial was a college kid that baby boomers chided for being entitled and Gen Xers thought were way too sincere and needed to learn how to take a joke. Today, the oldest millennials, those born around 1980, have hit their 40s and have lived long enough to have some serious regrets.

They also have enough experience to take some pride in decisions that, in hindsight, were the right moves.

The good news is that at 40 there is still plenty of time to learn from our successes and failures to set ourselves up for a great second half of life. These lessons are also valuable to the Gen Zers coming up who can avoid the pitfalls of the older generation.

A Reddit user who has since deleted their profile asked millennials nearing 40 “what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?” and they received more than 2,200 responses. The biggest regrets these millennials have are being flippant about their health and not saving enough money when they were younger.

Keep Reading Show less

A woman giving a stern warning.

Over the past few years, women named Karen have taken a lot of heat in the media. The term "Karen" has been used to describe a specific type of entitled, privileged and often middle-aged white woman. Typically, "Karen” is depicted as demanding, self-important and constantly seeking to escalate minor inconveniences to authority figures, like demanding to "speak to the manager."

Identifying the folks who create unnecessary drama in our world is important. But calling them a “Karen” isn’t the best way to solve the problem. There are many reasons to have an issue with the “Karen” stereotype. First, it’s terrible for people named Karen, and it’s also a connotation that many feel is racist , sexist and ageist.

Further, according to a new study by Trustpilot , the stereotype isn’t accurate. A recent survey by the online media site found that the people who leave the most one-star reviews aren’t female, and the women who do it the most aren’t named Karen.

Keep Reading Show less