I heard that back in the days, people used to just go when their work was done on the farms and there was no concept of 9-5 (these days seem 24 hours work). There used to be a lot of holidays. Is that true? If it is, then given the abundance in technology, why our work hours increased and why do we have such weird lives that we live to work?
Because we have always worked to live, living isn’t easy or cheap, but there’s also no reason to make it any harder than it has to be, well except to keep those with more in power. The farm was literally 24hrs of work. When you went home, which was still on the farm, was because you couldn’t see anymore because the sun went down or because you were too tired to keep going. Summer break from school was created so that kids and teachers could work the farms during summer.
No matter what your boss says, you are only required to work the hours that you’re contractually obligated to work. Your boss and peers might not like you very much and maybe resent you for it, but that’s your call to make. When you start a job you are signing a contract, it can be as simple as a single sentence or a full on novel. You and they are only required to fulfill the minimum requirements of the contract.
There’s more time off today and 8hr work days because of unions and farm life sucks, it’s straightforward and simple but it still sucks. Before unions there were no paid holidays, only the rich got time off.
Seems like someone is feeding you propaganda and glorifying the bad old days. It’s not great now but it beats what it was 100 years ago, which is not that far away.