As college students, academic stress, burnout and demanding expectations are all familiar experiences. The job market has raised its standards, and the constant pressure to be successful — along with the ever-present fear of failure — manifests in what is now known as hustle culture. Productivity, and more specifically, output, have become the benchmark by which we measure a person’s worth. In order to be considered productive, we must relentlessly pursue new goals and chase an idea of success — financial, professional or educational — without questioning what we’re sacrificing along the way. In the meantime, we shun relationships, opportunities and experiences in the hope that all our work will balance out and yield some reward.
Hustle culture has become a huge online phenomenon, creating an entire digital industry of lifestyle influencers offering their own methods to become successful. Social media is flooded with “study with me” videos, morning routine vlogs and posts that frame excessive work hours and grueling routines as aspirational. This trend has idolized the appearance of being overburdened and exhausted, with people treating burnout like a badge of honor. Hustle culture blurs the line between productivity and overworking oneself, and pushes the idea that if you are not constantly working toward your professional or academic goals, you are wasting time. Whether that manifests as prioritizing academic achievements over relationships or working excessive hours at the expense of sleep, the burnout, anxiety and negative mental health effects of this lifestyle are rarely discussed openly.
Students are particularly susceptible to these trends as they often exploit their insecurities, like concern about an uncertain future, academic competition and most of all, the fear of falling behind. Students stretch themselves thin through relentless networking, pulling all-nighters, hunting for internships and skipping meals to study. As unhealthy as these habits are, many see these behaviors as a sign that they are on the right path.
While hustle culture teaches us to maximize our productivity, it also dictates how we spend our downtime, making that something we also must optimize. Enter self-care — another phenomenon that influencers have monetized. Self-care is frequently co-opted by hustle culture, prioritizing productivity over well-being. Instead of being genuinely restorative, self-care has become another means of benchmarking us against our peers. Restorative practices have been commercialized and replaced by expensive products and elaborate routines — like taking ice baths at 5 a.m. and dogmatically following carnivorous diets — the goal being to perfect one’s image rather than truly improving one’s mindset. This also makes students feel guilty for participating in a relaxing activity or non-productive hobby.
Influencers promote a performative version of self-care, suggesting that quick aesthetic fixes, such as simply taking a long bath or using a face mask, can be the solution for chronic stress. They often fail to promote legitimate forms of self-care that actually confront hustle culture such as therapy, avoiding over-scheduling, allowing rest without guilt and prioritizing relationships over the hollow pursuit of achievement. In practice, what this amounts to is creating even more stress during periods when we’re meant to be recuperating. As a result, students who try to emulate the forms of performative self-care they see online often don’t experience their promised benefits.
While both of these phenomena seem geared toward success and personal well-being, they can have serious negative effects on students’ mental and physical well-being. Both hustle culture and self-care trends are defined by the same unhealthy drive for external validation and self-optimization. The appearance of being busy or responsibly taking care of oneself leaves actual productivity and work-life balance to fall to the wayside. This cycle of overworking and superficial healing leaves students extremely worn out.
College is already a stressful time for students, so it is understandable that so many look to influencers to guide them toward doing things the right way, but it is important to be aware of the ways these promoted lifestyles can be toxic to our mental health. Overworking yourself to the point of distress isn’t the right way to be productive, and endlessly trying to perfect your routine or appearance isn’t the right way to take care of yourself. We should not measure our worth by how busy we are or by how productively we rest. Allowing yourself to relax, making mistakes and freeing yourself from performative pressures will help you balance pursuing your goals with feeling mentally stable and emotionally fulfilled.
WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Mehr Kotval and Noah Zaldivar at [email protected].
