30min is considered short ? Damn, I have 15min to commute and when looking for a new place I did put a limit at 20min from my work place. Most of my colleagues have shorter commute time than me.
No suprise more than 2h wasted per day would make someone depressed.
Depends on the type of c travel right? I have one direct train for 45 mins plus little bit of walking/biking. Love it, but I guess it’s easier with a flexible schedule to avoid rush hours and finish some work in the train. And compared to living in the city I live in a family house near the woods for the same price as a studio apartment in the city
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I’d assume driving would be the worst for mental health since you don’t get any exercise and can’t do anything else either. You can finish some work or read a book on the train, or get some exercise through walking or biking, but with cars none of these.
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The 18 months I was commuting/driving through NoVA/DC (lived too far to feasibly take train) were literally the worst in my life.
By what mode? Even spending more than an hour on the T would give me suicidal thoughts.
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Can confirm, anything over 30 minutes and I hate my life
Doesn’t the economic benefits of a longer commute time offset the costs of these depressive symptoms?
Which economic benefits are you alluding to?
there are so many:
- vehicle maintenance
- vehicle replacement
- fuel
- road repair
- healthcare
- fast food
there are soo many ways that a long commute supports the economy. it could be selfish to not commute in a motor vehicle for less than an hour each way.
Those are no benefits but just examples for economically uneducated positions. Work is not an end in itself but just a tool. A broken window that is replaced by one miner, one glass producer and one craftsman has less value compared to an unbroken window and 3 persons with free time to create for example a new window.
Cars and car-centric lifestyles come with incredible economic cost.
This illustrates very well how broken our economic system is lol. What benefits “the economy” (GDP) is not what benefits real people/communities.
It’s also well documented by strongtowns how car infrastructure specifically devastates local communities and bankrupts cities due to how exorbitantly expensive it is. Long car commutes may increase the GDP of a country, but local areas suffer.
So if I’m understanding correctly, your position is that spending money on vehicle maintenance, fuel, healthcare (presumably for treating the depression?) from a long commute is going to improve the economy by an amount greater than how much the “depressive symptoms” impact the economy?
Or in other words, it’s fine that there are more cases of depression because it benefits the economy. It hinges on the assumption that someone with depression is “bad for the economy” and that the economy matters more than peoples’ suffering. This is an inherently ableist and morally bankrupt perspective, as is usually the case when distilling everything down to a utilitarian equation.
it’s incredible isn’t it?
seems like this is how it works to me anyway
Cries in 80 minute commute to work and 100 minute commute home. And that’s driving. When I was talking the train it was around 150 minutes each way.
I can attest to that
I have to admit that the best commute I ever had took 20 minutes by bicycle, mostly off road. Every morning I’d get to see wildlife, beautiful sunrises, fresh air, and all while I was getting fit. Wish I still had that :-/
