Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions

Hari identifies one “huge obstacle” to reconnection: work (244). Specifically, 87% of people “feel disengaged or enraged” by their jobs, and people’s jobs take up most of their time (244). Additionally, some work is hard to make meaningful, but is essential for society.

Hari discusses Josh Mitchell, who worked at a bike shop and tried to form a labor union, but failed. After that, he and his wife Meredith founded Baltimore Bicycle Works. Their business was one where all the workers share joint responsibility and have a say in how the business is run: “Everyone in Baltimore Bicycle Works said they were dramatically happier; less anxious and less depressed than they had been working in the kind of top-down organizations that dominate our society” (251).

Meredith Mitchell says that she learned that “[e]verybody wants to work. Everybody wants to feel useful, and have purpose” (254). There are “tens of thousands of democratic workplaces” or cooperatives across the world, but there is not much data on them (254). However, the evidence suggests that working at a cooperative helps people feel more empowered and less depressed.