The Dark Side of Remote Work: When Freedom Feels Like a Gilded Cage

I traded watercooler gossip for existential dread — and I’m not alone.

Photo courtesy of , taken in Quebec, Canada

The Silence is Louder Than Any Office

On my 1,000th day as a remote worker, I caught myself whispering to my coffee maker.
Not in a cute “Good morning!” way.
But a full, desperate monologue about my stalled project — while it gurgled back in mechanical indifference.

That’s when I realized: Freedom had quietly metastasized into isolation.

This isn’t another “work-from-home paradise” essay.
This is about the phantom limb pain of lost human connection, the 2 AM anxiety spirals when your laptop glow is the only light in the house, and why “You’re so lucky!” comments from office workers feel like salt in a wound they don’t see.

The Loneliness Epidemic (That Nobody Talks About at Standups)

Science confirms what we won’t admit: A 2023 study in Nature Human Behaviour found remote workers experience neural patterns similar to chronic loneliness sufferers. Our…