I also sort of blame it on the social media culture of being “constantly connected.” In some workplace cultures, (especially outside the dev space), not being constantly visible and grinning is the same as not consistently posting happy updates on your feed and consuming them.

I remember in my last job we had an “open office” plan after buying and renovating a huge space, and I found a niche little area to set up my desk without people staring at me and when people came to ask me questions they would say shit like “oh so this is where you’re hiding!”

Yes, on company property in the main workroom seated at my company desk using my company computer.

Thankfully my new job is fully remote, so fuck all that weird social noise when at the end of the day I’m just whoring my brain and fingers out so I can pay my rent and buy groceries