I'm very surprised that there haven't been any very bloody mass revolts yet in countries with work culture like this. I think it's inevitable some day because it has happened in most European countries somewhere in their history. It's kinda proven to be basically the only way to make a meaningful change.
As you say, it doesn't make sense to keep living like this.
Even farming for food only and forgoing access to any modern world amenities is better than this.
People usually still have bread and circuses and the circuses of today are very good. Have you tried farming or even just growing something to eat in a pot? For most people an office job is better than subsistence farming.
> Have you tried farming or even just growing something to eat in a pot?
Yes, and it’s extremely gratifying work. Much more so than sitting in front of a screen. And you can hold the result of your labor, see it, feed it to your family. It’s awesome. I wasn’t aware of how hurt I was by all my labor being abstracted away from me.
I still make my living as an information worker, but I’m actively weaning myself off the income. Less money, more happy.
I've been moving the same way, but still working so I couldn't buy 4 acres in the country (need reliable internet), but I was able to find a (somewhat expensive) half way solution where I have internet (but well and septic), a wood burning stove, and enough land for prairie, bees, chickens, and a few garden plots (adding an additional 4x8 plot each year).
We also belong to a CSA less than a mile away.
We can a bit, too. It _is_ rewarding and nothing beats a sun-warmed fresh tomato. Or cooking potatoes you grew.
I grew up on a farm in the 90's in Poland (In 89' Poland dissolved PPR/PRL - basically just got rid of communism so villages were quite poor) and I did have to work in the field as that was our main source of food (honestly probably a lot of that was because of the culture, not poverty - everyone grew their own stuff and our grandparents which lived through WW2 still remembered even worse times and did not trust the economy at all).
Honestly - it was not that bad. For your own sustenance (literally when you don't sell much) you do not need that much land and the work is not 24/7 every day. There are a couple of tough weeks in the year but much more downtime than you might realize (like, you barely need to do almost anything entire winter and most of the other seasons actually. 1-2h tops to feed the livestock and bring some wood/coal to the furnace).
It would be a different story if farming was our business and we wanted to raise money for something significant - but if you don't have any ambitions like that - village life is pretty easy.
I guess it depends on the type of said office job, but currently I work as a senior dev contractor in the city and it's barely better, if it is at all (I still can't really make up my mind if I'm happier). All of my extra money goes to mortgage (I "own" an apartment, not a house) and after work I do the exact same things I did when I worked on the farm to unwind (read, play games, nap, listen to music) because that's all the energy I have. And then we need to add all of the extra stress and competitiveness that comes with this line of job, wile "on the farm" I was already "at the bottom" and didn't stress much.
There are a lot of scenarios on the farm where something is very urgent sure but they are not really stressful. If some farmer says they are - he did not experience real stress (legal threats, danger of losing not only the source of food but entire house + going into debt, long economy downturns without hope of things getting better [as compared to temporary stuff like the weather destroying the current year's crops], lots of stuff).
