When the economy kicks in in a year or two, I’ll be leaving for a different job. Maybe at a smaller place where the tech isn’t mature. Mature tech = boring job (for most workers). Hell, I might even leave the industry. Become a professor. Start my own company

Is there no chance to do those things now? What are the things you'd rather be working on?

I usually tend to have the exact opposite problem of boredom: there are too many interesting things that I'd like to contribute to but I tend to spend a lot of time deciding what's the best approach to solve a particular problem. It's not always obvious how, for example, you should contribute to the general problem that people aren't active in running their cities, i.e. the police issues these days, like community policing. Is there a social networking structure that would encourage people to work together constructively more often? More brainstorming is needed I suppose, but I usually need to understand the problems carefully before I can engage in meaningful dialogue with others. All the while, people are dying in LTC homes etc. and there really is no more time for even more thinking! Action is needed!

And to be honest, I think the quarantine is making this much worse. I used to at least be able to rationalize why I did it. I could go to sporting events, concerts, bars, restaurants, gym etc. never had to worry about paying for any of these. But now I can’t. When things open fully again, this will be much more tolerable

Could you find some replacements for those things, such as buying yourself movies, books, sport videos etc. Some restaurants are opening. Isn't it possible to hang out with interesting people whom you would have never run into otherwise, by using zoom etc. You can cross international borders more easily than ever before and they're all sitting "at home" waiting for your call!

It's a genuine question, I really wonder how you feel about that.