This is the first day I’ve had to myself in over a week of commuting 3 hours back and forth to the lab. Due to the frequency of my commute, I’ve noticed an additional problem with the concept of an office: it creates a “work vs. life” dichotomy.

I’m normally involved in some form of intellectual inquiry just about all of the time. That used to include my doctoral research. However, now that my advisor expects me back in the lab on a regular basis, I’ve come to think of my home days as “days off”, and have come to save my research-related activities for days in which I end up in the lab. Since, as I have stated previously, I am already less productive in the lab due to nothing more than a mismatched environment and a long commute, this has the effect of reducing my productivity in the only place in which it persisted: my home. In other words, I’d be much more efficient across the board if I did not have to make this commute on a regular basis.

It applies to the office as well. One only needs to look at a family’s typical weekend activities to see this. If we could all work from home, home would become the workplace. Instead, we’ve sharply defined places in which work is done and in which it is not.