Tech Companies: A New Religion?

[herogamer]

What I hate most about this is how it shifts the blame on to the workers rather than the employers. "It's not *our* fault that working for us is so miserable that you want to quit, it's *your* fault for not being mindful enough."

[tyrannosaurusp]

There is something deeply dystopian about this situation, because if people start viewing work with the same intensity and devotion as religion, it makes it harder to do things like quit, call out abusive management, or even sit back and only do the bare minimum.

[corsaircaruso]

It’s the next step beyond “We’re not a business, we’re a family.”

[username]

If you treat your job like a religion, then how much more will you be effected if you get fired?

[yogurtfluff]

I say this as a non-religious person. This is a very troubling trend as it can lead to burnout and being taken advantage of as employees. These executives can use all the flowery language they want but all this is is to make money and push out unions.

[grapeshot]

Well those who own tech companies seem to think they're some type of deity.

[seraphimtofu]

This is horrifyingly dystopian, perfect video for spooky season lol.

[corwin]

Maybe this is just my cranky misanthropic ass, but I HATE it when my employer refers to “family”, attempts to hold social functions, or get chummy. This is a business transaction

[Vanalovan]

This makes me think of how in the ancient world religion was not a distinct category. Temples were treasuries and legislative halls, handled welfare programs, handling the calendar was a religious obligation and sacrifices preceded many secular events like a voyage. Maybe we’re just regressing to a mean?

[soupfroug]

I can quite explain why, but this all feels extremely evil

[tomtomtrent]

14:25 "Taking care of them so they can work harder." Ugh. They're trying to act like a mother, but not out of actual love, like a mother should, but just trying to squeeze more value out of them

[NarendraU]

The ironic thing about this is that mindfulness meditation could make your job performance worse. Because the more you are mindful, the more you are self-aware of how miserable you feel when you work a soulless job. This is especially true for career that puts you in the position of lying to yourself (keeping a smile, having to be polite/friendly all the time, having to bow down to your superior, etc).

But hey, maybe people will awaken and look for better job because of that, so it's not all bad :)

Edit : I want to add, I wrote this with the context of companies/workplace in mind. Meditation itself if practiced long enough would surely bear fruit. But remember that these worker are being given meditation session on spare company time. There's a reason why monks abandon normal life to focus on learning the Dhamma and practice meditation for years.

[PLuMUK]

How sad that people feel that their identity is work based. I retired in 2010, at the same as a colleague. She was terrified because she had no identity outside of her working life. I settled into retirement quickly because I had an identity outside our workplace. When I met her several months later she was still unable to accept her situation and could not understand why I was happy and fulfilled.

My real self was never totally work related because I had a life outside. My social life had very little to do with work, in fact I preferred not to socialise with colleagues.

I feel that the amount of time spent on work has little to do with. I usually worked 60 to 70 hours a week, for about 50 weeks of the year. Despite this I never regarded work as being my identity .

[surgeeo]

Hi, factory worker here, the high pressure of my job has made it necessary for me to do something to keep my stress level low. So I add Bhuddhist prayers to whatever I'm doing Sometimes I toy with the idea that my workplace has become a temple, but the reality is far trom that, the prayers are a tool, a means to a very pragmatic end of keeping me mentally sane. Work is work.

[duncanmcpherson]

These Chief Spiritual Officer types are looking at Brave New World as though it were a guidebook.

Glib observation aside, I’ve experienced this shift through my career in tech. It is… something else. Great episode!

[RedAngelSophia]

My concern over the workplace filling all those roles (spiritual, social, etc) is that it means that if you lose your job, you don’t just lose your source of income. It means you lose ALL these things. Hoping your church community will help you pull through till you find your next job if you lose your current one? Well - good luck with that if your workplace is the source _of_ your church community. And I would guess that there is a good chance that these big tech companies _know_ this.

[justforplaylists]

My impression is that the higher-ups are selling this stuff, but not that many low-level coders and mid-level managers are buying it, at least at larger companies.

[jimbo]

I am shocked, I can’t tell if this is overall good but I am disturbed by the prospect of a single institution wielding that much power. Imagine if leaving your job meant leaving your friend circle, your loved ones and community?

[sebastianprimomija]

Silicone Valley Yuppie: *From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call the temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal...*

[TheCALMInstitute]

The mindfulness and meditation taught by tech companies is a coping strategy for dealing with the stress and misery that they cause. It’s a form of these practices that teaches employees to turn inward, and cultivate passivity in themselves. It’s abhorrent.