Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee https://celesteheadlee.com/do-nothing-book/
Anti-capitalism is flooding TikTok as young people question a life that prioritizes productivity over well-being
there is a point there. Another trend which feeds into this same issue is for many people to feel like their spare time has to be done doing things that are social media or talk about worthy, rather than the old days of hanging out talking nonsense with mates being actually bonding. So worrying, people are missing the purpose and connection by turning everything into appointments and tick-boxes. I can certainly understand that feeling of needing to book things in and (for well people imagining) having things you want to tick off before you die so you need to start signing up for them etc but shooting the breeze in a chat on the phone seems to be now seen as 'not OK' and somehow I think it is what I see as a toxic flooding of social media and popular novels etc with 'think positive' and 'don't talk about your problems' and 'say yes' type stuff. It's weird standing on the outside of it watching people who think they are making themselves more mentally healthy with said mindset..
Where I trespass, the indigenous had (prior to the 1800s invasion by the Spanish, Russians, and Americans) a work day no longer than 5 hours max. This allowed time for crafts such as their beautiful basketry, for their spiritual lives, and just hanging out. Occasions at the sweat lodge and dancing. There were shellfish to gather along the coast, deer and other crittters in the woods, acorns to gather and store. Widespread trade and marriages with other tribes. What we gave up with the rise civilization. What we gained and what we lost (sleep, health, relaxation). I am not pollyanna about it; lives were shorter. I wish the work day for all would be five hours.
It's 'worse' than that. Peasants used to work when there was work to do, only. So, as well as a more relaxed attitude when working, they mostly only worked half the year, and took long meal breaks, including breaks to sleep during the day. They also, apparently, got to eat 5000 kcal a day (when available). Very few got to eat Chinese food or curries tho...and of course there were frequent trips to go and get bits chopped off whenever their local thug in charge had a tiff with his competitors - so it wasn't all good (It's 'possible' that we even have a meal named after this - while the peasants got chopped into little piece the thugs in charge had tea, cake, little pointless sandwiches, and occasionally poison, so as to discuss their tiffs, hence 'tiffin' may have been born ).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60353916 Looks like people around the world are reconsidering their priorities
I don't think there's anything particularly new in this. I dropped out of teaching when I was 26 in 1975 and took time out to travel and do other stuff for over 10 years, and I knew lots of others who did similarly. We made choices that left us poorer financially, but with wider experiences in other ways than we might have had if we'd stuck to the same full time career for our entire working lives.
In the U.S. it’s been this kind of experience for much of society compared to what I’ve seen and experienced when I was living abroad. So for me this type of book seems long overdue here. There has been way more societal pressure to overwork, overachieve, overdo, never stop, etc, since the early 80s and probably long before. The pressure cooker to “succeed” starts with parents with their very young children. Children basically miss being children and miss their childhood because they have to run in this crazy arms race to outcompete others. It’s really just a terrible form of survival of the fittest and to hell with those who aren’t so lucky to be born to the right family, right socioeconomic class, right health, and so on. They always say here there are winners and losers in this system… and for the losers they make them feel like it’s their fault…
My experience of living in the US - some decades ago) really brought this home to me. I was struck by the incredibly strong pressure people felt to be a success, the way a person's value was assessed in terms of how far up the ladder they had climbed. Not everyone - some groups rejected that, the US is nothing if not diverse - but there was still that overwhelming feeling you got on a day to day basis. But I get the impression that pressures to perform are even higher in some parts of Asia. The news items that come out of Japan and Korea, for example, paint a worrying picture.
I watch a lot of K-drama and that is certainly the impression I get. There is one difference though for those countries. There are a great many people in a small space. The competativeness is in part from so many people chasing any work at all. Which is only a small side point but it does make one ask why in America? I have some guesses but that doesn't really matter. But it does seem to have gone past a healthy point to something else. And there does seem to be a recent trend toward a counter-narrative. Small but hopefully growing.
USA: history of Calvinist immigrants--work is holy, pleasure will send you to hell. If people here relaxed, they might have to think. They are too busy reacting or appearing productive. Plus our social safety net is pitiful on the scale of developed countries. You are on your own. Oh, and the Horatio Alger myth that anyone can climb up the income and social ladder and that it means everything.
