40 hrs a Week is Crazy!
I hate to give off the impression of laziness and entitlement, but isn't working 40 hrs/week until retirement just an insane concept? The game plan is work a job you probably hate until you are 65 and decrepit waiting for death to enjoy life... who made this rule? I'm by no means a socialist and there is definitely merit to working just not so much. We spend so much time chasing the dollar it's mind boggling and for what? Everyone is different but I can't help to think if we all just lived more simple lives we'd need to work less and we'd be happier. We live in a time where more people die due to obesity than starvation and we have crazy innovative technology, you'd think we'd figure something out by now. Granted the work life has improved from even the late 1800's on during the Gilded Age where adults and children alike had a standard shift of 12 hrs/day six days/week. I say all of this as a college graduate with little student debt in a pretty well-paying job with benefits. What do you think?
Edit: I wanted to clarify a few things I didn't emphasize enough in my original post.
I'm not necessarily criticizing the 40 hrs work week. I am criticizing the 40 hr work week across 45 sum years until retirement at a potentially sucky job and not being able to enjoy life along the way. It seems like that takes so much out of life. Yes we need money and work, but we can't buy time.
The reason I think the 40 hrs/week can be "insane" is because we have made so many advances in technology that I believe in the not too distant future lots of jobs will be automated or require less work. I also tend to think people could live simpler lives in terms of living below their means so they spend less time at work. Obviously this is dependent on the person, their goals, and finances. I want to be clear, I'm not arguing that we give up on society and office jobs to go live semi-nomatic lives in a commune in Alaska.
People mentioned me being entitled. To a small extent I can see yes, by demanding I work less than 40 hrs or whatever it be there might be a small sense of entitlement. I see working conditions as just something to negotiate. I wouldn't call someone entitled if they negotiated to be paid more. Most of all entitlement is feeling deserving of something one didn't earn. If someone is working less than 40 hrs their pay will reflect their work. That's not an entitlement.
I actually work a well paying job, that I love, and only work way way less than the average person. I know what it's like to work a regular 9-5 for 40 hrs because I did it while going through college. I remember seeing my peers making careers out jobs they didn't enjoy to make ends meet. This deeply disturbed me because despite what people say it doesn't/shouldn't need to be that way for a lot people.