https://fortune.com/2023/02/02/remote-work-why-do-i-miss-commuting-psychological-detach-recovery-liminal-space-management-study/
In our recently published conceptual study, we argue that commutes are a source of “liminal space”—a time free of both home and work roles that provides an opportunity to recover from work and mentally switch gears to home.
During the shift to remote work, many people lost this built-in support for these important daily processes. Without the ability to mentally shift gears, people experience role blurring, which can lead to stress. Without mentally disengaging from work, people can experience burnout.
Remote work actually bad, come back to the office.
It's not contributing much to the discussion but I once lived within a 2 minute walk from my workplace and that was genuinely too little. Zero time to do the mental shift and if I wanted to do anything other than go home the option of "go home first, rest for a bit, then do thing" was way to captivating and always lead to doing nothing, as I was already home. I genuinely gained something from having a bit of a cycleable commute.
Again though, disclaimer, that's a privileged as fuck position and I understand the ire against the notion. I just want to say that a bit of an active travel commute can be a good thing occasionally in the utopian sense and we're very, very far away from this in most of the world.