Home and Work

If the line between work and play has become blurred, so has the line between work and home. Although Dibbell states that the downfall of his marriage was not due to his work with Play Money, he mentions how some especially hardcore players have ruined their relationships by exerting so much effort into their games. One would imagine that many of these players are using computers in their homes. The wife (speaking generally -- I'm sure there are exceptions) can physically see her husband. She can glance over his shoulder and look at what he's doing. But this "home within a home" for a husband is a world that she cannot enter. It's easy to imagine her frustrations. Her husband is tangible, yet gone into a virtual realm that she cannot access.

Traditionally, workers can "leave business at the office" and return to home as a place of refuge and relaxation. Now the computer screen glows as a constant reminder that "there is always more to be done." For those who work at home, the only time they close business is when they turn off the computer and walk away from the desk. Yet instead of a commute, their office is a button and a few keystrokes away.

Dibbell enjoys working out of various Flying J rest stops, taking the time to pause and look around him in his quest to meet his April goal. And indeed, computer-based work does allow for mobility. Yet one can easily imagine family vacations interrupted by clacking on the keyboard, "just to read this one e-mail really quickly." I took an online class over the summer and brought my laptop with me on a family vacation to Colorado. While I wouldn't say that having the computer with me detracted from the "vacation" experience, I felt obligated to do work and communicate with friends from home (not that I DIDN'T want to communicate with them, mind you) just because I had access to do so.

My future career will involve writing in some (hopefully great) capacity. But if the majority of my work took place at home, I wonder if I'd begin to resent people who traveled to and from their jobs. I'd want the change in scenery. The people surrounding me. The ability to say, "I am DONE for the day!" and go...home.