Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

by Anne Helen Petersen

Millennials live with the reality that we’re going to work forever, die before we pay off our student loans, potentially bankrupt our children with our care, or get wiped out in a global apocalypse. That might sound like hyperbole—but that’s the new normal, and the weight of living amidst that sort of emotional, physical, and financial precarity is staggering, especially when so many of the societal institutions that have previously provided guidance and stability, from the church to democracy, seem to be failing us.

Advocating for a union means identifying oneself first and foremost as a laborer, in solidarity with other laborers. It promotes a sort of class consciousness that so many employers have worked to negate, instead reframing “jobs” as “passions” and “workplaces” as “family.” And God forbid you talk about money with family.

A surefire way to increase your level of stress is to be stressed out all the time over whether or not the weird pulsing rock on your skin is telling your manager that you’re stressed.

The gig economy isn’t replacing the traditional economy. It’s propping it up in a way that convinces people it’s not broken.

Why is the allure so strong? The dopamine explanation is part of it, for sure. But for me, I think the larger draw is a shared delusion: that with my phone, I can multitask like a motherfucker, and be all things to everyone, including myself. It’s not the shiny black rectangle that’s beguiling; it’s the idea that your life could be so ruthlessly, beautifully efficient, seamless, under control, that makes it appealing.