Dear Diary,
This week I had to work more than usual. It was another few of those days where I was supposed to work until 5 p.m. but did not leave until 8. I then came home, wanted to have dinner with my boyfriend, but then work called again, and before I knew it, it was bedtime already. At that point, I hadn’t even finished my homework for university. I don’t know how these days keep going by without me noticing. I love my job, but sometimes I feel so physically or mentally drained after long days like these. This week has just been a whirlwind.
I read an article today about the number of hours we spend online, and this kind of shocked me. It said we spend about 11 hours a day on social media alone every week. I started counting up the hours I personally spend on it, and it is at least 15 hours this week. This honestly astounded me. I always thought I was not online that much. But when I took a moment and really counted all of the hours… I did not expect this.
It is now finally time for me to go to bed, tomorrow starts a new week. But I am struggling to fall asleep. I have this rushed feeling like I have to do something. I have been having this for a few nights now. Hopefully, it won’t keep me awake all night like last night again.
Good night!
This first diary focuses mainly on not taking a break from work, always being online, and the negative influence social media can have on you.
Workers hardly take a break, and this is proven in research done by the University of Texas. The results of this research state that Americans regularly work between 10 p.m. and 6. am besides their regular work hours. A survey conducted by Morar in 2016 showed that 40% of American office workers feel burnout out because of untenable workloads, impossible deadlines, and unrelenting pressure. A report by Deloitte in 2016 also found that one of the main concerns of American employers is the ‘overwhelmed employee’. It also showed that workers hardly ever take a break from checking their phones for business purposes. This goes hand in hand with research done by economists at the University of Texas, which showed that Americans regularly work between 10 p.m. and 6. a.m. besides their regular work hours.
Psychologist Jaffe also explains in an article that millennials now feel comfortable sacrificing their mental and physical health to live up to expectations and pressure from American society.
Metro surveyed 2000 Dutch juvenile participants with age between 18 and 34. In this research, 75% said they think about going to a psychologist. They set the bar too high for themselves, or the environment does it for them. Looking at the numbers, Metro concludes that there is a millennial stress epidemic. They state it is a fragile generation because of the way they were raised, and the social pressure created by social media.
In the Netherlands alone, the population spends at least 11 hours per person just on social media. All of this time, online means more information to process. It is not very easy to stop this, because wanting to know what is happening around you is part of our nature. In 2018, Statistics Netherlands reported that 29% of all millennials considered themselves addicted to social media.
A psychologist interviewed for the written paper (2019) also mentioned this. He states that an always rushed feeling is created, and that is addictive. Because of all the stimuli and news, there is an unconscious fear of missing something. This ensures that the brain does not get any rest to recover. Social media also often shows you this ‘ideal’ image of what life needs to be, which creates stress on a whole new level.
