8 hours of work is not something natural

[Philosophos]

So there is this guy that comes for a lecture of many different things (he's something like a philosopher/political analyst. The one thing came to another and he starts talk about the way of living under capitalism.

I don't think he's a communist but he's definetely anti-capitalist. Anyway he said that since the 1/3 of humans life is spent in sleeping (more or less 8 hours of sleeping almost for everyone). We also spent approximately the other 1/3 of our lives in basic needs (eating, drinking, bathing, having sex etc). So we have 1/3 of life that is just for us and we can basically do whatever the hell we want with it.

In the capitalist society the day is divided into 8hours sleeping, 8 hours working and 8 hours doing whatever we want.
What the guy said is that if we HAVE to work it must not be for 8 hours but less because there is no such thing as "8 hours for doing whatever we want since we cover our basic needs (the whole eating, bathing, having sex thing) in the second 1/3 of our lives. The working issue and doing whatever we want is limmited in the third 1/3 of our lives so we just can't fucking spent it on working.

He believes that one of the reasons that people nowadays are messed up is the whole 8 hours thing because in the long run there is just an illusion of doing what you want/having free time because of the 8 hours working scedule.

Of course lots of conservatives disagreed claiming that he has no scientific proof about what he's saying.

What's your opinion on the subject? I believe that even if he's wrong scientifically speaking, he's more or less right about the 8 hours of working.

[Os Cangaceiros]

These calculations are far from universal. I'm not sure the 8 hours for "basic needs" was calculated, that doesn't seem right to me. Neither does the 8 hours for sleep, people can function on 5 (and less as glorious science develops new drugs (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/sleep-is-so-last-year.htm) that can cut it down to 2 and a half without a decrease in mental function).

[La Guaneña]

If I had to work only 4 or 5 hours a day, I'd sleep a lot more. I fucking hate the way that the amount of sleep I get is defined by a clock, and not by my body.

I would also just lay around scratching my balls or something. I love just "doing nothing".

[pastradamus]

I don't believe 8 hours work is natural ( I once worked an 18 hour shift). Its only in the last 2000 years that man has had to "work" as such and I honestly dont believe we are equiped to do so over such a period. It tires the mind and the body far faster than any form of physical exercise I find. As a boxer I once did a 6 hour day of training, but I wouldn't say it tired me out as much mentally as an 8 hour day without manual labour. Its a desynchronosis thing I believe, much like jet lag. One day im working 8-4, another 9-5, another 1-9, another 2-10 etc.

I also believe this sleep thing is far more than just an "8 hour a day" job. I put it down to body mass. Im a big guy so 8 hours a day just does not do it for me. I need about 10 hours to feel absolutely fine. But thats just me. Oh and BTW, never rely on stimulants to get you through, I ended up in Hospital because I could breathe one day - thank you red bull.

[Crabbensmasher]

I don't think people really need any extra free time. It's just the way it's spent makes it seem unfulfilling . Most people get off their day job at five and sit in front of the TV for the rest of the night.

Obviously, people work far more than necessary though, but if it were needed, I think an 8 hour shift wouldn't be so bad; it just needs to be broken up. Perhaps have the first half, then eat lunch, go home and have a nap. Then during late afternoon, go back into the office and finish up. This notion of getting everything out of the way so you have free time is stupid. We'd be just as happy to break up the time + we'd be more productive after the nap, and that's more sleep we can catch up on (Because 8 hours really isn't enough for everyone).

It really comes down to this though; people need to learn to appreciate their free time. They have this notion that free time can either be productive or not. This defeats the whole purpose of "free time" though. Hell, if it appeases you to twiddle your thumbs for a couple hours, then go right ahead. Power to you. Just enjoy your goddamn time instead of budgeting it.

[homegrown terror]

the whole notion of "eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours of free time" is horribly flawed in that it completely and insultingly marginalises a HUGE portion of the population: parents. show me a parent who has a schedule anything like that, and i'll show you a rich bourgeois fuckwad who has an army of nannies and housekeepers to do all the work for them.

[The Jay]

I don't think that you know why they sit down the whole night. I think that most people just don't have any more motivation, patience, or energy after working at a soul crushing job, which counts most people.

[slum]

not to mention that the whole eight hour work day we now regard as 'normal' (even if it isn't the reality for many or most of us) was only won by generations of labor struggle against even longer hours and harsher conditions

so no, there's nothing natural about it. it's determined by the class struggle.

[Jimmie Higgins]

What's your opinion on the subject? I believe that even if he's wrong scientifically speaking, he's more or less right about the 8 hours of working.

Well on the physical biological aspect, humans obviously can work 8 or 12 or even more hours in a day. But historically, working on the same repetative task everyday for a fixed amount of time is pretty fucking strange. Having bells requlate when we work or not, is strange. Everyone working roughtly similar hours and driving induvidual cars to work is pretty strange.

But ultimately, IMO, it's not the length of time or the method that makes capitalist labor strange for the laborer, it's the alienation. It's that we work irregardless of the use-value we create, we work doing this thing and it's only part of a large thing, but it's just for a wage and a contacted amount of time. The system of wage labor and exploitation pressures capitalists to ensure that no matter if we are working 4, 8, or 12 hours a day, we only have basically enough to re-produce ourselves and come back to work. If you're part-time, you might work only 30 hours, but you also have less wealth which means that the extra time is taken either by a different part-time gig or doing things in a more time-consuming manner which then essentially equals out (like having to ride a bus because you can't afford a car).

Then again, yes, although we can do work in this manner, it is unpleasant and unfufilling and even ineffecient from a quality rather than profit perspective. It's unhealthy and it forces us to make our lives revolve around work: to work to live and live to work.

[Comrade #138672]

Also, 8 hours of work per day is not necessary. It is only necessary to maintain Capitalism. In the Netherlands it has been calculated that there is just enough work to provide everyone with 20 hours of work per week.

Capitalism is messed up.

[Narodnik]

8 hours for eating, drinking, shiting, sex? Wow. He is either a super glutton, or takes a dump for hours, or he really really f*cks a lot.

A bunch of people used to work more then 12 hours a day, yet they managed to eat, drink, shit, bathe and have sex.

By his calculation, people who have jobs and do 8 hours a day should barely have the time for that needs, let alone watching TV, listening to music, hanging out with their friends or sitting on the internet, which we see no one employed doing. Yeah right.