lol, the telegraph has been around for 180 years, so that really is the "old days". We've had phones for 150 years.
But what you describe is just wrong. Sure, young people in their 20s and early 30s will spend more time at work; they naturally want to get ahead, and at that age, work is to some extent social life.
But that phase should only last for a few years. In the past, people got married, started a family, and began leaving work earlier. Nowadays, they postpone marriage and children. When they get round to that, both spouses work, most of the time. Taking a few years off to spend time with the kids can damage your career.
Like it or not, people have become slaves to their employers' bottom lines. My father was an executive. But most nights he got home by six or earlier. He didn't get business calls in the evening, or over the weekend. He rarely brought work home.
That is how it should be. If employees need to stay in the office till 9, and return by 5 or 6 in the morning, then the firm needs to HIRE MORE PEOPLE. Isn't unemployment a problem? Wouldn't hiring additional staff be a good way to address that problem?
My own view is that nobody can work well for more than six or seven hours a day, full time. Sure, if there's a project that needs to be finished, or a crisis, then go ahead and make the extra effort. And then you should get comp time. Tired people make poor decisions. They work inefficiently, and they can cause disasters, in the worst case scenario.
There's a new commercial for some kind of car. A guy leaves a busy city office. The voiceover says: "When did leaving work on time become an act of courage?" As he drives away, his coworkers and even his boss watch from the office windows, amazed.
I think it makes a good point. But perhaps fails as a commercial, since I have no idea what kind of car it is.
