"Who's doing the grunt work? You are."

[Life_is_Simple]

I read this in the newspaper, and found it very illuminating. It explains why we are so tired. As much as I try to simplify my life, it seems there are so many little things to do... Some quotes from the article appear below:

Who's doing the grunt work? You are.
Article by: CRAIG LAMBERT
Updated: October 31, 2011 - 6:16 PM

...
Even so, [a law firm partner] was scanning and bagging her purchases in the self-service checkout line. ...Nonetheless, she was performing the unskilled, entry-level jobs of supermarket checker and bagger free.

This is "shadow work," a term coined 30 years ago by the Austrian philosopher and social critic Ivan Illich, in his 1981 book of that title. For Illich, shadow work was all the unpaid labor -- including, for example, housework -- done in a wage-based economy.
...
In the industrialized world, few of us live in a subsistence mode, so shadow work is ubiquitous: shopping, paying bills, housework. Digital technology -- with its spam, e-mail, texting, smart phones and so on -- is steadily ramping up the burden of shadow work for all whose lives revolve around its magnetic field.
...
Today, all those [gas station tasks] have been transferred to the customer: we pump our own gas, squeegee our own windshield, and pay our own bill by swiping a credit card. Where customers once received service from the service station, they now provide "self-service" -- a synonym for "no service."
...

[iris lily]

And still we are getting fatter, so I can't accept that we are working harder, if that's the premise of this post.

[goldensmom]

Interesting, I've noticed the change over the years and often think that those are jobs high school kids used to do and are no longer available to them. I operate a farm and do true 'grunt work' and I am usually fatigued and sometimes sore at the end of the day. The shadow work described in the article would just keep me limber.

[Gardenarian]

I would love to have a full-service gas station! I remember when they would clean your windshield and check your oil. That was great.

I do think that so many jobs today require sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, and I do find that fatiguing.

I don't think the small tasks involved in shopping are going to tire one out (especially if you seldom shop.)

[Mrs-M]

An enlightening article. Thanks for this Life_is_Simple. Sure made me think twice about a few things I more than likely wouldn't have given so much as a thought to had you not posted this.

Wouldn't it be great to be in a legal position to be able to issue bills to all the large corporations/businesses related to services provided! Imagine the kerfuffle that would cause!!!