Society is in full transformation and the way of working and the time dedicated are not immune to this great change. It was said that we would emerge stronger from the pandemic, but something is going wrong, especially in one part of the working world. It is precisely evoked by the prestigious The New Yorker, the weekly that portrays the social problems of the West through its covers. Next week, the first page will be titled “Deadline” and it shows a worker in front of her computer while she watches fireworks through her window.
The work is the work of the artist Bagnarelli and she explains it like this: “I often work during vacations. At first, I think I'm taking advantage of small moments when the world stops,” she says. “But then I realize I'm missing out on all the fun and it can be bittersweet.” It is, therefore, a criticism of certain professions where work time invades leisure time.
The debate is not new and dates back to past generations. It could be summarized in the dichotomy of whether you have to work to live or whether you have to live to work. The answer seems simple, but it is not. There is debate. Twitter user Carlos Spottorno, for example, stated: “You should never feel sorry for a person who works. The problem is when you don't work.”
What seems evident is that there are red lines that have been crossed in recent years, dangerous drifts that have led to a rhythm of life that Bagnarelli wants to denounce.
There are those who already speak of a “plague” in intellectual work carried out remotely. A series of professions without breaks or with diffuse limits that are destroying free time. In other words, the hybridization of work and personal life is endangering spaces of free time.
“Where is the leisure? How do we seek creativity? How do we internalize what we are learning?” ask the users who are sharing the cover of the discord.
The New Yorker is right to bet on it in its first edition of 2024, as are the companies that, to the extent of their possibilities, promote the four-day day if it increases productivity. There are jobs that will always exist and there are others that will be created, the key is to progress, not to go backwards. In setting “deadlines”.
