Images of Tedium and Drudgery.

¶ … images of tedium and drudgery. It is sitting at a desk in the office for eight hours a day, five days a week. It is struggling to earn a living until one is eligible for retirement. However, this essay argues that the advent of technology gives humans the capability to redefine work as something more meaningful. If we let it, I believe that work can be both a stimulus for creativity and a source of fulfillment.

Work is labor that people do in order to eke out a living and to support their family. Work is thus equated with force, tasks that people generally do because they need to earn money. This definition contrasts radically with Erich Fromm's concept of work. For Fromm, work can be truly liberating, creative and can act as a process of self-individuation. Work is liberating, states Fromm, in the sense that earning a living separates people from their basic needs. Instead of focusing on finding food, for example, humans can concentrate on other tasks involving self-development.

Second, work can be a creative process. Fromm believes that work can be creative, in the sense that workers are changing themselves as well as the world around them. Finally, workers can realize self-individuation through using their powers of reason, cooperation and developing their sense of beauty.

Though this is the ideal, Fromm also recognizes that the vast majority of people do not experience this "liberating" aspect of their work. This is particularly true within capitalist society, where wage laborers are forced to sell their labor. When humans see work as a means of getting money, when they are forced to "sell" their energies for a fee, then the result is a sense of alienation. Work is no longer a meaningful activity.

This was true for the most part of the 20th century, when the concept of "work" involved going to the office or the factory. For many, the term "work" additionally meant working for an employer or a boss, a person who was usually not liked. Very few people had the option of leisure, working independently or going into business for themselves.

With telecommuting technology, however, many people are re-defining traditional notions of "work." Staying at the office for eight hours a day is no longer a requirement. This technology allows many parents, for example, to spend more time in with their families, a pursuit that many people certainly find more liberating that being yoked to a desk.

Other people are able to spend extra time pursuing less profitable interests, such as volunteering for charity, writing a novel or taking continuing education classes.