And, as others have said, that only works in places that have abundant food year-round. Otherwise it's way worse, with a lot more hard work just to not starve.

Also, the only defence against the outside world is to chuck spears at anyone who comes within spear-chucking distance of your island. Though, tbf, it has worked pretty well

I'm definitely going to run the risk of sounding very privileged here, but "they work hard, but there's also a lot of relaxing. They can't do much at night, so there's often singing and dancing when the sun goes down" sounds quite a lot like my job, the jobs of my friends, the jobs of my parents and of my parents' friends, and apparently the jobs of most people in my town because all of our pubs are relatively full every night.

When I'm done with work for the evening, usually between 1730 and 2000, that remaining time is mine. It's not loads of time, but it's mine. I can go out, or see friends, or hang out listening to music. I can get up early and see friends too. I understand that must be a lucky position to be in but I'm sure a lot of other people could also do this, right? Sure the budget is tight, and I have to be careful that I don't go out every night and spend too much money, but yknow... Singing and dancing and relaxing etc still happens!