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Is it just me, or when you become "the tech guy", family and friends become extremely entitled to your help? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I wish I never told anyone I worked or studied tech. Especially older family and friends, because their requests for help are relentless.

A lot of friends are chill with it, and I don't mind doing a little bit of help, but sometimes people are who are OFFENDED when you don't want to help. In the same way a contractor friend won't remodel your home for free, I am not going to fix every single issue you have with your computer for free. I'm happy to give advice, but i'm not going to work for hours without pay to fix everything.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A lot of people struggle to internalise how capitalism works, because it's unnatural. In a natural communist society, you ask your friends and family for help with the things they're good at, and they help you. But under capitalism, you need to sell your limited time and energy for money in order to survive, so you can't afford to help your friends and family for free. This is confusing to many people, because their instincts are telling them to act like communists, the way human beings are supposed to.

You can solve this problem by joining the communist revolution and restoring our economy to its natural state.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I dont really get what this has to do with capitalism. They could also reciprocate in a capitalist society but don't? They don't need communism to bake some cookies or serve a meal. Just anything to make it worth my time

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

You're describing a gift economy, where people give labour and resources away for free. People are stuck between their instincts, which say to behave as if they're in a gift economy, and their environment, which says to hoard resources for survival. Many people resolve the conflict between these competing systems by acting both cheap AND entitled. In a communist society, people would still be entitled, but they wouldn't bother hoarding their cookies, because their job wouldn't demand all the cookie baking time. So they'd act the way you describe.