sitters and standers
December 7, 2024 6:55 AM Subscribe
sitters and standers Alvin Chang examines demographic differences between those who mostly sit at work and those who mostly stand and relates it to historical trends. The graphical story begins with a survey that places you on the graphs throughout the story.
Oooo very cool. I love (hate) the ending.
posted by samthemander at 7:38 AM on December 7
posted by samthemander at 7:38 AM on December 7
No mention of film industry workers? No grips, cinematographers, actors?
posted by Ideefixe at 8:30 AM on December 7
posted by Ideefixe at 8:30 AM on December 7
Not in the video, but you could probably check the BLS Occupational Requirements Survey source data for more detail.
posted by migurski at 9:18 AM on December 7 [1 favorite]
posted by migurski at 9:18 AM on December 7 [1 favorite]
If you go through the non-video version, then at the end you can play with the source data using their visualization.
I did try looking for both "grip" and "actor" though, and neither came up-- if you can come up with other names for those job titles, you can search yourself in the nice visualization.
posted by nat at 11:11 AM on December 7 [1 favorite]
I did try looking for both "grip" and "actor" though, and neither came up-- if you can come up with other names for those job titles, you can search yourself in the nice visualization.
posted by nat at 11:11 AM on December 7 [1 favorite]
Went from a tech environment to a (mostly) physical plant job. Definitely increased my exposure to hazardous contaminants, and more hazards in general. But it's made such a difference to posture, alertness, engagement.
Must set a reminder to raise the standing desk. It's there so why not use it, right? Habits come from practice.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 3:50 PM on December 7 [1 favorite]
Must set a reminder to raise the standing desk. It's there so why not use it, right? Habits come from practice.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 3:50 PM on December 7 [1 favorite]
I'm a university instructor, so I am free to sit, stand, walk around pretty much as I please. That's in class, anyway, but in my office I'm definitely ass-in-chair most of the time. Thinking of investing in a standing desk.
posted by zardoz at 6:04 PM on December 7
posted by zardoz at 6:04 PM on December 7
It looks like the "sitters" in this thread are concluding that they need to spend more time standing at their desks -- but I don't see how that follows from the presentation in the link. It doesn't say anything about the healthfulness of sitting, although it does mention that the bodies of those forced to stand all day for work break down faster.
From what I've heard from listening to several podcasts by physiotherapists who enjoy keeping up with the medical literature, there's no benefit seen from trying to stand at your desk all day while working. They do see benefits from taking breaks to stand and move around. And there's also a benefit to changing position regularly while sitting.
I have a lot of arthritis in my family, and so while I haven't gotten it yet, myself, I do spend a lot of time trying to understand what causes it to try to figure out how I can avoid it. From what I understand, people who are extremely active for a living (so professional athletes and manual laborers) have higher rates of arthritis. And so did our ancient ancestors who spent their lives on their feet carrying things. But we also know that exercise is preventative, so how could both things be true? My current working theory, and I've been wanting to run this by a medical professional, is that exercise is beneficial if you are free to take time to recover from that exercises as needed. But if you cannot take time off and you work through fatigue and injury, you get damage on top of damage with no chance to repair and adapt, and that is what causes arthritis. Anyway, a theory.
I don't think this presentation has any cautions for sitters, who, as they mention, usually have the priviledge to choose to take breaks from their sitting. The problem is that standing jobs are lower income and more subject to the kind of coercion and lack of protective laws that they need to give their bodies breaks from all that standing. So we're kind of doing exactly the thing they're complaining about in the link: praising the standing, while ignoring the fact that it's harmful to the bodies of those forced to do it all day.
posted by antinomia at 2:32 AM on December 8 [2 favorites]
From what I've heard from listening to several podcasts by physiotherapists who enjoy keeping up with the medical literature, there's no benefit seen from trying to stand at your desk all day while working. They do see benefits from taking breaks to stand and move around. And there's also a benefit to changing position regularly while sitting.
I have a lot of arthritis in my family, and so while I haven't gotten it yet, myself, I do spend a lot of time trying to understand what causes it to try to figure out how I can avoid it. From what I understand, people who are extremely active for a living (so professional athletes and manual laborers) have higher rates of arthritis. And so did our ancient ancestors who spent their lives on their feet carrying things. But we also know that exercise is preventative, so how could both things be true? My current working theory, and I've been wanting to run this by a medical professional, is that exercise is beneficial if you are free to take time to recover from that exercises as needed. But if you cannot take time off and you work through fatigue and injury, you get damage on top of damage with no chance to repair and adapt, and that is what causes arthritis. Anyway, a theory.
I don't think this presentation has any cautions for sitters, who, as they mention, usually have the priviledge to choose to take breaks from their sitting. The problem is that standing jobs are lower income and more subject to the kind of coercion and lack of protective laws that they need to give their bodies breaks from all that standing. So we're kind of doing exactly the thing they're complaining about in the link: praising the standing, while ignoring the fact that it's harmful to the bodies of those forced to do it all day.
posted by antinomia at 2:32 AM on December 8 [2 favorites]
This is not the true mefi sitting v. standing debate.
posted by FatherDagon at 6:10 AM on December 8 [4 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 6:10 AM on December 8 [4 favorites]
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