Society has become increasingly alienating and lonely, going into an office is just a way of papering over that.
Companies haven’t built strong cultures around communicating and mentorship, going into an office is just a way of masking that.
Personally I have worked with and felt camaraderie on distributed teams with people I’ve never met in person. I know it’s possible, but it requires doing things differently than business as usual.
Yes, what will surely improve my mental health is a workplace conversation about how I should be exterminated. Fantastic idea.
If your conversations involve people wanting you exterminated… I think in person vs online is even more important. It’s not possible to argue that kind of stance in person unless they’re a crazy person, in which case just avoid those I guess