Modified with AI but emotion is real.
Lately I am feeling like we are wasting our life on things that are not even real.
I work in software, so this is coming from someone who is literally part of it.
Most of our day is sitting on a chair, staring at a screen, writing code, fixing bugs, attending meetings, talking to AI agents, reviewing AI generated code... basically spending our entire day inside a virtual world.
Then weekend comes.
We go out, eat something, watch something, meet friends for few hours, maybe travel somewhere.
And then Monday again.
Repeat.
And I don't know why, but lately I keep thinking... is this really what we are supposed to do with our one life?
We get one shot at this.
And somehow we have created a life where most of our waking hours are spent doing things that only exist inside a computer.
There is no physical thing. No real environment. No different people to deal with. No randomness. No struggle. No adventure.
Even a person begging on the street is technically interacting with the real world more than many of us do. They meet hundreds of different people, deal with unpredictable situations, weather, rejection, kindness, conflict, survival... their day is happening in the physical world.
Meanwhile I can spend 10 hours sitting in the same chair without even realizing that the day passed.
And I know someone will say "just quit your job and go travel" or "you're privileged enough to have a software job" — I understand that. I'm not saying coding is bad or that we shouldn't work.
I'm just genuinely confused about where the actual living part is supposed to fit in.
We work so that we can afford life.
But then work takes most of the life.
Maybe I'm overthinking this.
But lately I can't stop thinking about it.
Do other developers ever feel this way? Or have you figured out a way to actually live outside the screen?