Words: Sanjana Shanbhag (she/her)
‘Young people are falling for the ultimate lie: that the people on the screen of their phones are not likely doing the exact same thing as them, and scrolling through social media in their beds.’
As the January ‘new year, new me’ mindset rolls around once again, the sentiment feels, ironically, very familiar. The 2025 bucket list may have changed, but the core idea remains the same – achieving, or being seen to achieve, perfection. Visualising or even manifesting your dream mind, body, and soul has become the annual norm, not only for the people who are struggling with motivation or direction, but for those who would like to be perceived as being more put together. Whether this presents itself as a more regular gym schedule (me), a screen-timer on your Instagram (my friends in STEM), or a new obsession with crocheting (everyone I meet, seemingly), it’s real, and it can be exhausting. Influencers like Nara Smith are normalising unsustainable attainment levels; for most working people, cooking 3 wholesome meals a day, socialising, and squeezing in time to work towards their long-term goals is unachievable. Doing it while looking beautiful and effortless? Downright impossible. So why have young people romanticised running ourselves ragged?
We must acknowledge that the new-found obsession with scrupulously planning out our days, weeks, and months in advance may actually be harming us in ways we don’t immediately realise. The way “hustle culture” has permeated our lives has intensified over the last few years, which can be attributed to the post-COVID generation of young people wishing to make every moment count after 2 years of stasis at home. It seems natural, therefore, that people would be keen to make the most of every day post-pandemic, in an effort to counteract the loss of time that COVID stole from us all. It does, however, beg the question as to why on earth we feel the need to schedule in every little activity or chore into aesthetically-pleasing lists or bullet journals. As Psychology Today asserts, ‘if you aim to be productive, make sure that your productivity is the product of choice and in the service of your personal and professional goals’. Why must we assign a designated time in the day to enjoy ourselves? A 4pm sweet treat run should occur naturally! Go whenever the mood strikes you!
It’s clear that the TikTok takeover has had a huge impact on the ways we manage our time and output. Having a ForYou page inundated with ‘day in the life’ and ‘get ready with me’ videos with every other scroll can only fuel the sense of insecurity with your own schedule. From the early morning starts, meticulous meal prepping, and a full face of makeup all being achieved before 8am, this style of short-form content always seems to reach its target audience – procrastinators, underachievers, and microwave-meal merchants.
But is this meticulous scheduling and prepping productivity, or procrastination wrapped up in a pretty bow? Are we avoiding seeing the bigger picture by masking it with more insignificant, hollow senses of achievement? Maybe we need to read in between the lines of that pastel highlighted to-do list. Young people are falling for the ultimate lie: that the people on the screen of their phones are not likely doing the exact same thing as them, and scrolling through social media in their beds (we are all shattered by 5pm). Vlogging content over the years has simultaneously become more intimate, and more personally far removed, in terms of their creators. Gone are the days of parasocial relationships with your favourite ‘slice of life’ influencers; you’ll only see what they carefully stage. Why not film yourself getting out of bed if you can monetize it? Nevertheless, we must recognise the element of performance behind waking up a minute earlier to set up your camera, only to then reenact waking up for your followers. This isn’t an organic 5am wakeup – it is carefully orchestrated and curated.
In the end, whether it be drawing that straight line through a task with your pen, or ticking a box on your Reminders app, that small, chemical sense of achievement we feel in these acts undoubtedly fuels the habit. But as always, the highs come with the lows. Relying on hyper-organisation to provide a sense of self-worth can have negative impacts in the long-term. Attempting to timetable every goal into existence is a clear manifestation of the desire to claim agency over our lives. But can it ever really be that easy? Maybe the ultimate secret to success is to simply take your own time.
It’s a vicious cycle: constant productivity is unrealistic in a world saturated with distraction and fatigue. Staying busy is not the same as being genuinely productive. There shouldn’t be a sense of emptiness or unfulfillment if your life does not closely resemble your vision board. The time has come to accept that sometimes, doing nothing, is doing everything for yourself.
