Hustle Culture and Boredom

At the age of 21, I have experienced the overwhelming pressure of Rise and Grind/Hustle Culture firsthand. It is reinforced through the media we scroll through daily. Especially in college, the less sleep you have becomes an odd form of bragging. The harder you work, the more hours you take, the more credits you register for, the most successful you are able to see yourself as. Peers even congratulate one another with compliments of a work ethic that derives people of their interests, sleeping needs, and time for family. In this culture, the idea of being bored simply means you aren’t doing enough. The ideal worker in today’s generation is balancing school, work (or 2 jobs), and somehow finding time to take vacation trips, exercise, and maintain sanity.

This way of thinking is toxic not only to us now but to our future children. We must draw a line that divides hard working from overloaded. If this action is not taken, we begin to look like zombies who work the most and compete to exhaust ourselves for a gold star sticker. Manoush Zomorodi, author of Bored and Brilliant, explains the power and necessity of feeling bored and allowing the mind to wander on occasion. Not only does doing so facilitate the brain to consolidate memories better and revive exhausted cognitive abilities, but it feels great. Granted, this is something completely contrary to what we think of as productive. The consequences of acting against Hustle culture may be comments about laziness or a temporary decrease in self-esteem. It is important to remember that by being bored and not utilizing every minute of the day, which unfortunately means less screen time, your brain majorly benefits from taking a break.

As we all know, overcoming a cultural perception can be quite difficult. It requires a movement including a large mass of people to overturn thought and ideas we all share as well as long-term effort. Zomorodi, instead of trying to undo a cultural mindset, provides challenges for her readers to reduce screen time and become more aware of our tendency to fill every moment of the day with doing something.

It should be noted that decreasing screen time and technology dependency is only a small step in the direction of addressing Rise and Grind/Hustle culture. However, if you check your daily screen time average, you may find that you spend more than a few minutes each day, and closer to hours of time glancing, checking, scrolling, and liking. By freeing a portion of this time and instead allowing yourself to experience boredom, we will slow down our pace and become more active in the moment we are in rather than looking at the next task.

My most recent blog post provides a few examples of hobbies and why they are something we do not simply age out of. Zomorodi, on the other hand, created a set of challenges that will distance participants from technology in order to free their minds. Her first challenge is to observe yourself, mostly to place a baseline but also to become more aware of when and why we check our devices so often. There are dozens of apps, including Moment, which track your screen time, number of pick-ups, and allow you to see notifications about whether you are meeting your daily goal or not. During my experience with this challenge, I was forced to acknowledge that I would pick up my phone at least 40 times just by noon. Not all of these times did I spend scrolling through social media or texting. Usually I would check the weather or check the time. Admittedly, I also indulged in watching YouTube for far longer than I thought I had. This challenge places an emphasis on why we need to be bored and how reliant we are on putting our attention into something constantly.

In an article by Thrive Global, Jessica Hicks reinforces the idea that your time of connectivity doesn’t imply availability for work.  Further, she mentions how she sets rules on each of her devices and plans times when she puts them away for the night or checks her email less on the weekend. This can also contribute to a regular sleeping schedule uninterrupted by notifications. She elaborates on how growing up with technology, Millennials are taught that the accessibility provided through technology brings with it an expectation to be available and productive during all waking hours. Although this pressure can seem inescapable, it is essential to build habits now rather than facing burnout and being reactive later.

From trying out Zomorodi’s challenges to eating a meal without a device around, there are small practices that will contribute to still feel productive without being nonstop. Ultimately, this could lead to a restructured culture that focuses equally on taking care of your mental well-being and working toward goals.