As I endured some mindless data entry at my office desk this morning, I put on a thoughtful video about “The Burnout Society” (Why you hate modern work). In it, the presenter discusses Byung-Chul Han, a modern-day South Korean philosopher most noteworthy for his thoughts on late-capitalism and self-exploitation. In his book, “The Burnout Society” (which I have yet to read…), Han asserts that nowadays we are motivated to do work through a series of positive motivations rather than negative ones. For example, we are less likely to be motivated to work out of a positive self-reference or perception (we are capable of anything because of all of the powerful tools at our disposal etc.) rather than out of fear of a negative consequence (as Foucault theorised).
Technology and the internet have led to workers which “auto-exploit” themselves. People use social media to commodify their hobbies in hopes of financial gain and as a result, the focus has drifted from that of community to the individual. We have become “master and slave in one”, as he puts it.
Today’s society is no longer Foucault’s disciplinary world of hospitals, madhouses, prisons, barracks, and factories. It has long been replaced by another regime, namely a society of fitness studios, office towers, banks, airports, shopping malls, and genetic laboratories. Twenty-first-century society is no longer a disciplinary society, but rather an achievement society [Leistungsgesellschaft]. Also, its inhabitants are no longer “obedience-subjects” but “achievement-subjects.” They are entrepreneurs of themselves.
-Byung-Chul Han, “The Burnout Society”
We begin to forget that it is okay to have interests which are purely passion projects and for our own private enjoyment. Not everything needs recorded.
In this society, people isolate themselves and view friendship more as a stragetic move in which they can benefit somehow professionally, rather than considering what it means to cultivate a friendship for social and emotional benefits. In this “achievement culture”, we become less vulnerable and more self-obsessed. It is supremely beneficial to hide ones flaws or personal problems. Since social media is so focused on revealing only your best-side, giving off any sort of unsteady vibe might result in not being hired for a project or not be taken seriously; even if all of us have flaws and insecurities. Ultimately, it creates a sense of self-worth which revolves around accolades and accomplishments. Even leisure becomes a vice; many of us are overworked and self-obsessed and then wonder why we do not feel fulfilled.
In his essay “The Rebel”, Albert Camus likens rebellion to “a form of asceticism”. It makes me think about those among us who see pitfalls of achievement society (usually from having knowingly or unknowingly been a victim of it ourselves) and who have decided to go their own way, exiting the scene.
The rebel obstinately confronts a world condemned to death and the fatal obscurity of the human condition with his demand for life and absolute clarity. He is seeking without knowing it, a moral philosophy or a religion. Rebellion is a form of asceticism, though it blind. Therefore, if the rebel blasphemes it is in hope of finding a new god.
He goes on…
To kill God and to build a Church is the constant and contradictory purpose of rebellion. Absolute liberty finally becomes a prison of absolute duties, a collective asceticism, a story to be brought to and end.
Mankind is perpetually seeking meaning. A major way this is exemplified in our era is through hustle culture and an emphasis on that never-quit, grind it out sort of mentality. Working passionately toward a goal is admirable, but when the focus is on the outcome (some hypothetical future) and not the joy in the process, we lose immense amounts of satisfaction. This is a major flaw of achievement culture and one of the reasons it leads to burnout.
A more fulfilling pursuit of meaning would be one zeroed in on having healthy social interactions, cultivating a sense of community, finding people you feel safe investing in emotionally, truth-seeking, and asking of ourselves what we are most passionate about and interested in and of course, how to do more of it.
Violent positivity, as Han refers to it, exhausts us. To not achieve is to be a nobody in this type of society: we see influencers living lavish lives and cannot help but compare sometimes. The message online is that anyone can achieve such things if they persist, promote themselves tirelessly, network non-stop, and exercise incredible amounts of self-discipline. So, millions of people lose years to the 24/7 digital domain which never sleeps, looking for hacks and picking apart analytics in pursuit of it all, foregoing a healthier balance.
When we commodify ourselves and every last piece of our lives, we become a means to an end and lose sight of healthy boundaries. We burn out.
The acceleration of contemporary life also plays a role in this lack of being. The society of laboring and achievement is not a free society. It generates new constraints. Ultimately, the dialectic of master and slave does not yield a society where everyone is free and capable of leisure, too. Rather, it leads to a society of work in which the master himself has become a laboring slave.
-Byung-Chul Han, “The Burnout Society”
At rock bottom, someone who has burnt out from self-explotation will discover eventually that they are isolated, surrounded only by others who are exploiting them for personal gain, and are oftentimes in actuality lonely and unhappy, regardless of how much money they earned and despite any number of accomplishments.
I had a (very tired looking) internship supervisor years ago who proudly told a group of us on a conference call that she kept a LinkedIn tab open day and night on her laptop because she feared missing a networking opportunity. She encouraged us to do the same. It was in this moment I understood how easy it is to become so obsessed with our work that we do not even see the tiny ways it distracts us from truly living and enjoying ourselves; shaving away fragments of time which we will never get back to spend otherwise.
It is difficult to be a part of this achievement society and not lose sight of what makes you worthy as a person. Many fail to see the insidious, incremental ways it steals your satisfaction. While it is not entirely a new phenomenon, people have been obsessed with work in unhealthy ways for decades, this new sort of behaviour is especially concerning because it asks people to give up so much more of their personal lives and private enjoyment. It asks that people relinquish vulnerability and ignore their mental health needs in favour of being on all the time…to push the illusion of perfection.
We may have broken out of a society wherein the threat of punishment pushed the worker to generate productivity, but it has turned into a society where the worker and disciplinarian are one in the same. While subtleties admittedly exist, wherever and in whatever amount possible, the answer is to exit the scene. Find work which provides time for self-actualisation. Adjust your routine and time-management to allow for leisure and enjoyment of the people and activities you love. Live your life, now. Rebel against the burnout society.
I feel fortunate that although I do work a typical 9-5, it permits me to leave work at work. And, when work is at home four days a week, the amount of free time I possess is not worth any sort of financial trade off. Although I could be making more money or spending more hours of each day promoting myself to achieve such an end, it just does not feel worth it in the grand scheme. I remember what it was like when I was getting five hours of sleep a night, commuting two hours a day, worrying about something I may or may not have forgotten to complete, then trying to promote my music, play live shows, and enjoy other hobbies…I was so tired at the end of the day, I couldn’t enjoy myself.
Life felt flat. I was so lost in the pursuit that I didn’t know myself at all.
I have discovered since that balance is everything, and don’t ever want to go back.
Dylan- This is one of the most accurate observations around to date: "We begin to forget that it is okay to have interests which are purely passion projects and for our own private enjoyment. Not everything needs recorded." I appreciate this thought. Hope you're well this week. Cheers, -Thalia