It's not you. Commuting is bad for your health.

My commute is like a second job, and it might be killing me.

Millions of Americans commute to work. It can be a stressful journey that involves cars, trains, bicycles, and even airplanes. This video breaks down the pros and cons of long commutes -- it's by someone who actually has a painfully long one: Vox's Kimberly Mas commutes to Manhattan almost every day. She drives her car to the train station, takes the train to the subway, and finally rides the subway to the Vox office. She's had this routine for a long time and she always wondered what kind of toll it's taking on her. Her reporting shows that, while commutes may just be an unavoidable part of life for many Americans, they don't have to be all bad, all the time.

[Vox]

Check out our video on how highways changed US cities:

[saany]

"people are *choosing* to commute more"
I don't think being pushed out of city centers due to increasing housing prices is much of a choice.

[Adams]

You wake up at 6:15 to start work at 10. Good God, that is horrible, and yes, it's probably killing you. I rather live on a farm.

[DH-exnv]

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." -Ellen Goodman

[issaosama]

I love my alone time when commuting tbh. I either read or listen to music. That's why I appreciate train drivers and bus drivers so much. Imagine doing that for hours non stop knowing that you have so many lives in your hands. Lets give them some appreciation guys.

[jml]

The majority of people commute for jobs they could do remotely.

[local_tomatillo]

Americans aren't just "choosing" to commute farther and farther distances. We're designing for and incentivizing that choice.

[matthewsommerville]

Did she make this so Vox would let her work from home?😂

[aishahshamsul]

This is exactly why people accept offers for a lower paying job than their current one that is closer to their home. It's for the sake of mental health

[TheRealHarsjan]

Work sleep repeat. Work sleep repeat. Work sleep repeat.

[jacobdriscoll]

This video seems to be lacking an analysis of the economics of commuting - of how living near where you work is often prohibitively expensive and how long commutes are often a result of under-paid employees. There's a whole economic class dimension to the use of public transit (especially in more rural areas!) that is entirely missed here. Commuting isn't always as much of a "choice" as some might have you believe.

[hblaub]

No word about high housing prices?! Yeah, right, we all choose that ... of

[tlowery]

This definitely could have been more thoughtful about WHY people need to commute which generally comes down to cost of living/housing

[eldukedrino]

The build up in this video is really great but the conclusion feels rushed and incomplete.

[ReuInuzuka]

My mental health dramatically improved when my commute changed from a 30 minutes to an hour on the freeway, to 10 minutes in my neighborhood.

[elwindewitte]

I'm so glad we have such effortless public transit in the Netherlands. You can pretty much bike anywhere, and catch a train on most stations every 15 minutes 🙏 Eventhough there's a certain frustration to our public transit provides, I can't imagine what it's like in the US. Props to you for making that effort!

[bubblesxo]

i hate commuting so much. it takes nearly two hours to commute from my house to college only to arrive in classes where the prof just reads the textbook or powerpoint slides. if i miss one of the buses add 20+ more minutes to the commute. i can't even read on the bus because it makes me feel dizzy and most of the times i cannot even find a place to sit cause the buses are PACKED. most days i just look out the window listening to sad songs contemplating whether to end it all.

[TheMindfulMillennial]

I took an 8% salary cut for a job that's MUCH closer and much more full-filling. I cannot recommend it enough! Yes, I have to be mindful with spending (I tutor 2 hours a week for extra cash), but I'm much happier! 😊

[decemberdarling]

Hell no. I would rather live in a 200 sq ft studio cube near my workplace than live in a mansion miles away and have to commute 2 -3 hrs.

[againtimeelapsed]

This seemed to take an odd turn. She talked about how commutes are ruining our mental health and then that guy said "it's not dead space " and now it makes it okay? That doesn't take away all the detractors but trying to put it in a different light