Derek Thompson explains why he chooses to work in an office even though he could telecommute from home if he wanted to:
For me, it comes down to people. The best social technology increases social connections. Facebook keeps us in touch with far-flung friends. Twitter broadcasts our internal monologues to the world. Email, texts, and phones keep us connected even when we’re remote. But none of these things forces us to not be with real live people.
Telecommuting is a choice to be alone. It reduces connections between workers. It removes us from the world of work and makes it indistinguishable from the period before and after, which we could simple call life.
This is, by far, the biggest drawback to my job. On the upside, I’m pretty sure that I’m more productive working at home than I would be in an office, and there are plenty of other benefits too: My commute is 30 seconds, I don’t have to put up with interruptions, and I can work odd hours on occasion if I need to.
But it’s lonely, no question, even for a basically asocial person like me, and Twitter and email and blog conversations don’t come close to making up for it. After nearly a decade, I’m still not sure it’s worth it.
