It was an extremely exhausting day. You get home, check social media, and see an influencer saying she woke up at 5 a.m. to study, then went for a run at 7, went to college at 9, started working in the afternoon, and still had time to take care of personal matters. You start to feel bad about yourself and ask: Why am I not as productive as she is?
These days, it’s very easy to find yourself in this situation, but it has nothing to do with you; it has to do with that specific person who, whether you like it or not, makes you feel like you’re doing the bare minimum—even though, in your daily routine, that’s more than a lot.
Roots that grow beyond today
Excess of productivity is nothing new and it has deep roots in our capitalist society, and, according to Ana Bock, — a psychologist who graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and teaches at the same institution — productivity, discipline and accumulation are all part of what she describes as the “spirit of capitalism”. In her words, capitalism keeps discovering new ways to encourage productivity and keeps coming up with new approaches, which makes total sense and applies easily in the situation mentioned earlier.
Ana also mentioned that the problem begins when productivity starts to be viewed as something desirable. This is where the romanticization starts and just keeps growing until it becomes normalized, restarting the cycle of finding new ways to encourage people to keep producing.
For women, this topic is a little bit different. Bock points out that this romanticization may come from the fact that they conquered the workplace and gained the freedom to pursue their desired career path. However, they also have to deal with a lot more pressure and, more often than not, there are other matters related to household chores that still tend to fall on their shoulders.
“I think this romanticization might have to do with this place women have earned—one that carries its own contradictions. Perhaps one of those contradictions is the romanticization itself, because you’re romanticizing something that is actually a space of exploitation. ‘Work dignifies men’—now it dignifies women, right? Before, work dignified men—though of course ‘men’ was a generic term—but now it also dignifies women.”
Looking at younger generations, we can see that even children are setting limits on the tasks assigned to them. Ana used her granddaughter as an example: she had three homework assignments, and as soon as she finished two of them, she realized she was tired and could finish the other one later.
This mindset among the younger generations may also be one of the reasons why we’re being bombarded with content that portrays an absurd level of productivity—they want the public to once again be captivated by the idea of working far harder than they should.
What role does social media play in all of this?
Nowadays, social media affects almost every—if not all—aspect of our lives, so it’s no surprise that it’s also influencing our perception of our own productivity. Phrases like “work while they sleep”, terms like “workaholic”, and the rise of work coaches who promote extraordinary levels of productivity may have been key factors in recent years in fueling this narrative.
Even so, Ana argues that social media does not necessarily create this pressure from scratch. Instead, it helps expand the reach of ideas that are already present in society, making them more visible, accessible, and increasingly normalized. In a space where productivity is constantly displayed and shared, these platforms can reinforce the perception that being busy, efficient and constantly accomplishing something is simply part of everyday life.
“I think social media plays an important role, but I think we need to remember that it encourages, publicizes, and amplifies something that already exists and is recognized as such. Therefore, I believe that at the heart of all this lies the spirit of capitalism.”
Another impact that technology has had in this regard is that we now work more, since we can access work platforms from anywhere in the world at any time. This means that a busy day now involves five or more appointments, whereas in the past, a busy day consisted of three appointments spread out throughout the day.
Access to information has also become easier, so the pressure to meet these demands is greater, since we can get answers very quickly. All of these factors contribute to a longer, more demanding, and wearying routine for workers.
“Everyone complains about working too much. I think it’s because of technology, the fact that we work remotely… To give you an idea, if I had a normal day—without a computer, without all that technology—I’d be able to handle one task in the morning, another in the afternoon, and another at night. Even on a busy day, I’d be able to fit those three tasks into my schedule.”
The psychological impact of this culture
As a result of this extreme productivity, we’re seeing many people suffering from burnouts and other mental health issues. When asked about the impact of this trend on people who already face mental health challenges that affect their productivity, Ana suggested that the answer may lie in the person’s own mental health condition.
“You could put it this way: there are people who are more sensitive or more critical who will notice this romanticization, who will realize that there’s pressure on them to produce. Instead of quitting because of the excessive workload, they’ll work excessively, and that, in itself, may be the root of the disorder—what we’re calling here a mental disorder.
This results from excess—and it’s not just about overwork. It’s overwork combined with control—which today you can exercise online, whether through remote work or even by tracking your hours, for example.”
Meritocratic rhetoric—and, in Brazil’s case, the delay in addressing issues such as ending the 6×1 work schedule—shows that society continues to promote the ideal that, no matter what it costs to sell one’s labor, success will come; this fuels the dream of many workers to become “their own bosses.”
“Perhaps the rise in suicides, the rise in unemployment, and the rise in people quitting their jobs,along with the dream of being one’s own bossare intensified by this, because ‘I don’t want to be subject to that boss who makes demands and holds me accountable.’
He doesn’t realize that he has another kind of strategy for intensifying work within this realm of entrepreneurship.
Work, which is a very important activity for humans, is transforming and turning against us, against our own humanization, because we’re ceasing to be considerate of others; we’re ceasing to collaborate at work in favor of a competitive spirit. It turns against our very own humanizing development.”
Can psychology help us break the cycle?
This cycle may not be easy to break, and even if it is, it will take some time.Therefore, we should turn to psychology to help us cope with it so that we can work in a healthy way without placing unsustainable demands on ourselves. According to Bock, even though there is a lot of room for improvement, fields such as Social Psychology of Work and Occupational Health Psychology are working to understand the effects that excessive workloads, control, and pressure can have on people’s mental health.
“We still have a long way to go before we can say that we have the power to demonstrate this, that our professional strength makes this clear in a way that raises awareness among workers.”
Perhaps, then, questioning productivity is also about questioning why exhaustion has become something to be proud of. And psychology can be part of that conversation — helping us understand that sometimes, doing less is not failing to keep up, but recognizing when enough is enough.
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
The article above was edited by Julia Miranda.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!