A 27-minute commute to the office that most workers resent, and the small psychological window it creates that many remote workers say they lost and never replaced

After peaking in 2019 with an average commute time of 27.6 minutes, the 2024 figure is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Researchers focused on two specific cognitive processes during the commute: psychological detachment from work and psychological recovery from work. Psychological detachment means mentally disengaging from the demands of work. On days with longer-than-average commutes, people reported higher levels of psychological detachment from work and were more relaxed during the commute. However, on days when commutes were more stressful than usual, they reported less psychological detachment from work and less relaxation during the commute.