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air conditioning yes, hours no. preindustrial work day was more spread out through the day, but only really amounted to about the same 8 hours as we have now. now n days has a much higher productivity expectation than back in olden times, too.

if we're also considering all of the things people made in their free time, there might be an argument to be made. but let's be real, people now n days like to make things to use for themselves just as much, even with alternatives fully available to them.

and let's not even dig into the difference in holidays. i don't wanna go back to olden times or anything, but goodness, they knew a thing or two about holiday time off.

it'd probably be a benefit if we split up hours and such, y'know? i.e: doing work in two four hour blocks with a four hour break or something.

that'd be nice, but capitalism.

So much wind, and devastating fires.

California is going up in smoke x_X

It amounted to about the same 8 hours if you averaged it out through the year, but that's because there wasn't nearly as much work during the summer and winter compared to planting season and harvest season. Long days during harvest season aren't uncommon because you had to get the crops collected in the fairly narrow window between it getting ripe and it getting destroyed by rain, wind, or frost. They also had children helping out -- if they were big enough to carry stuff, they were big enough to help.

So yes, I would certainly say that having a predictable schedule with a steady routine, being able to provide for yourself and your family by doing something other than manual labor, is an all around better deal.

i was not touching on the type of work or quality of life overall for a reason. i wasn't even arguing that things then were better. i was only talking about hours, and as someone that does better with seasons of extra work vs a constant daily grind, i think that there are things to examine in how we expect people to work by default. forced expectations of what it is to be a working individual perpetuated hard by our capitalist systems do come with serious problems, and the ratio of hours worked, productivity expected, time off allowed, etc are all things that should be looked at critically.

i'm not going off on some anti-capitalist rant here, because it most certainly has benefits that a shit ton of people don't consider, but we got fokkin PROBLEMS with how things are and not necessarily having to do manual labor is not enough to account for the many, many other difficulties people can have in trying to maintain the oh so lovely 8 hour work day

Me @ the news: This is bullsh*t. >:C It's Fall, not Hell-Summer! This has to stop! I'm blaming humanity. *lives on a hill* >8c That sh*t better not spread across the valley!

Honestly the holiday situation isn't solely a "nowadays" problem. I work with branches of my company in other nations, and they get 2-3 times as many holidays as we do :')

there is also something to be said about the expectations of actual rest in-between tasks. it was taken for granted that unless you were in straights you could indeed take breaks as needed. in the last few decades it's become a sign of a weak mind and body if you are not working during your breaks as well, non-restful hobbies and curricular activities eat up a lot of time that used to be spent in a low-productivity low-energy state.

Please, the Californian “fall” is just Second Summer.

oh cool my fucking forum title changed
time to go feral over that
it's a dick joke isn't it.

-- edit: also, the fact that people from religions other than christianity don't get holidays for their holy days should be considered and we should do our best to accommodate them.

No, it's not a dick joke. If that was the intent, we would have been more obvious with it. It's just the kind of emphasis where you stress each syllable independently, sort of like using the clap emoji.

We don't have fall or spring anymore. :c It's either on fire, or it's not. The winds are all anyone's talking about. T-T Allergies. Wind. Flu Shots. and Christmas already. Jeezus.

oh, that's valid, coda.

Why are there so many chiropractors using their Dr. status to give nutritional advice and sell nutritional products?

(I don't need an actual explanation, the reason is already understood.)

it's amazing what you can do when you need money more than you need dignity x''D