Plugged In and Burned Out

Young copywriter Mita Diran tweeted about working 30 hours straight and died the next day. A few months earlier, 24 year old Li Yuan collapsed at his desk after working until 11 pm every day for a month and died from a cardiac arrest. These are definitely not the first cases in our generation.

I’ve heard and participated in jabs at our generation for being spoiled and unwilling to put in the harsh effort and hours our fathers and grandfathers put in at our ages. Can you argue? We complain, a lot. And with Twitter and Facebook at our disposal, we complain even more.

But while I’m still a strong believer that we are a spoiled bunch, I can’t help but argue that our generation faces issues much different than those before us. While we did not face the Great Depression or Great War, we have witnessed the technological revolution that has vastly improved and simultaneously declined our quality of living.

Between sitting in front of our computers and hours of traffic, our bodies are currently being destroyed by a lack of physical stimulation. We sit for countless hours in front of bright LED screens, scrolling, browsing, clicking, liking, sharing, tweeting and pinning until we’re numb. Our brains are over stimulated while our bodies are under stimulated.

Our generation has developed an intolerance to anything short of instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it now. And we can have it all now at the touch of a button. Why wait? Click and buy. Click and chat. Click and get some (if you’re into that sort of thing). Everything is available, all the time.

So naturally, business is following the same model. Our clients want what they want and they want it now. And if you won’t deliver, they’ll find 1000 others who will with a click of a button.

We write an email and check Facebook. We begin an Excel sheet and check Twitter. We take a call, while writing a text, sharing an article and uploading a photo to Instagram and answering a Whatsapp message. We push and push our minds to process more while our bodies struggle to keep up.

Until one day, you collapse. Emotionally, physically, psychologically, or all of the above. We’ve all experienced a break down of some sort. Some may recover, and some don’t.

And we wonder why our society suffers from excess anxiety and depression? I read this article this morning in the middle of sending an email. And then while reading the article, I opened a new tab to write this. I officially have the attention span of a fruit fly.

We need to focus on our bodies a bit more and give our minds a rest every once in a while before we burn out.

WE SAID THIS: Take ten minutes out of your workday to do this deep breathing exercise. You deserve it!