1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a production 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio and Unbust Creative. I'm Bridget Todd 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: and this is there Are No Girls on the Internet. 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: Here everyone, I am back and I wanted to share 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: a few quick updates with you. I'm so excited to 6 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: say that we're gonna be back with new weekly episodes 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: for our new season, dropping in just a few weeks, 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: and I cannot wait. But in the meantime, I just 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: had to come back in your earbuds because I just 10 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: finished that new Amazon Prime documentary Lula Rich, and I 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: am dying to talk about it. So, for those of 12 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: you who don't know, Lula Rich is a documentary all 13 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: about Lula Row, the multi level marketing scheme that sold 14 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: leggings and big dreams of successful entrepreneurship to millions of 15 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: millennial women across the country. But basically it was too 16 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: good to be true because it turned out to be 17 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: a total scam. And truly, there is nothing I love 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: more on this planet than a documentary about a scam. 19 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: So later this week we'll have a very special episode 20 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: featuring Verberta Blevins, the former Lula Row mentor turned multi 21 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: level marketing awareness advocate featured heavily in the documentary, and 22 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: hearing Roberta story and all the other women's stories in 23 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: the Lula ro documentary really got me thinking about the 24 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: kinds of societal conditions for women that allowed for these 25 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: women to get scammed by Lula Row. You know, we 26 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: basically live in a world where if you're working mom, 27 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: there just is not a lot of support. It's a 28 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: world of precarity and scarcity. But at the same time, 29 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: we also live in our world that tells women that 30 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: we need to do it all. We have to be 31 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: hashtag girl losses, you know, be successful entrepreneurs, raise our families, 32 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: be good partners, while also being expected to advertise how 33 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: great event now we're doing. Doing all of that incompatible 34 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: stuff on a picture perfect, meticulously curated Instagram feed. It 35 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: is way too much, and it creates the kind of 36 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: conditions that can really lead to women being easy prey 37 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: for scams like Lula Row. Conditions like feeling like you 38 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: have to be perfect all the time on social media 39 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: or advertising or branding yourself all the time on social media, 40 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: Conditions like feeling like you have to do it all, 41 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: and conditions that lead to burnout. So ahead of our 42 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: episode this week, breaking down lu La Row and the 43 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: documentary lu La Rich. I wanted to revisit my conversation 44 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: with Anne Helen Peterson, author of Can't Even How Millennials 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: became the Burnout Generation? And if you just can't get 46 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: enough with Ann and I, you can check us both 47 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: out at Unfinished Live, where I will be doing my 48 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: very first ever live taping of There Are No Girls 49 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: on the Internet. Unfinished Live as a convening of technologists, journalists, 50 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: artists and change makers in person at the Shed in 51 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: New York City and happening virtually on September. It's gonna 52 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: be two days of talks about how we can all 53 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 1: use ethical tech to build a fairer economy and a 54 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: stronger democracy alongside the leading mind shaping that future. I'll 55 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: be there alongside other speakers like and Helen Peterson, Charlie 56 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: Worzel of Galaxy Brain, Sophia Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppress, 57 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: Shin and Glitch, CEO of Neil dsh Just go to 58 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: live dot Unfinished dot com and use promo code tangoti 59 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: for more information. This is gonna be a little bit 60 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: different of an episode than what we usually do because 61 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: things aren't normal, and I don't feel normal, and you 62 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: probably don't feel normal either, if you're anything like me. 63 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: A combination of never ending to pressing news, I r 64 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: L events and connections being replaced with more time sitting 65 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: in front of the computer, and the overall creeping feeling 66 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: of mounting instability has left to you feeling drained, exhausted, distracted, unmotivated, 67 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: and burnt out. In her viral BuzzFeed essay called how 68 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, and Helen Peterson writes, if 69 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: exhaustion means going to the point where you can't go 70 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: any further, burnout means reaching that point and pushing yourself 71 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: to keep going, whether for days, weeks, or years. Burnout 72 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: isn't just one thing, it's everything. For weeks, I've had 73 00:03:57,640 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: a list of things to do that I just can't 74 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: seem to get done. They roll over to the next week, 75 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: and I tell myself, we'll do them then, but I don't. 76 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: I've had a package in the corner of my room 77 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: that I've meant to return for months, my personal email 78 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: inboxes where correspondence goes to die. I let emails go unreplied, 79 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: and then feel awkward about how long it's been since 80 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: I've replied, so they just go unanswered. While I'm working 81 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: on this very episode, there's a chime an email added 82 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: to my seemingly unending inbox. A work Slack message knocks 83 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: for attention. In the background, a group text motification from 84 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: friends wanted to confirm a zoom party for this weekend. 85 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: I'm already feeling out of sorts, so I check Instagram 86 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: to see if anyone left a nice comment on a 87 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: picture that I posted of myself appearing to look very 88 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: centered and chill that was ultimately posted to make myself 89 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: feel better about my life in the first place, and 90 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: all of it ends up feeling like a lot of distractions. 91 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: At night, instead of going to sleep, I doom scroll 92 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: social media until I pass out. I did to wake 93 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: up and start the whole thing over in the morning. 94 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: Is this what my life was meant to be? Like? 95 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: Everything from work obligation is to leisure activities feeling like 96 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: a task vying for my attention that I'll never get done. 97 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,799 Speaker 1: How did we get here? And Helen Peterson writes burnout 98 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: and the behaviors in weight that accompany it aren't in 99 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: fact something we can here by going on vacation. It's 100 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: not limited to workers in acutely high stress environments. And 101 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: it's not a temporary affliction. It's the millennial condition. It's 102 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: our base temperature, it's our background music, it's the way 103 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: things are, it's our lives. And that realization recast my 104 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: recent struggles. Why can't I get this mundane stuff done 105 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: because I'm burnt out? Why am I burnt out? Because 106 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: I've internalized the idea that I should be working all 107 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: the time. Why have I internalized that idea because everything 108 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: and everyone in my life reinforced it explicitly and implicitly 109 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: since I was young. Her essay about millennials and burnout 110 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: was so impactful she turns it into a new book 111 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: called Can't Even How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. In it, 112 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: she describes that, famili, you're an exhausting feeling of what 113 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,840 Speaker 1: she calls aaron paralysis, being so overwhelmed that you're not 114 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: able to get any of these tasks in life done, 115 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: so you're left feeling perpetually stuck. But our generation was 116 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: supposed to have it easier than our parents did, and 117 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: technology was supposed to make our lives better and more fulfilled, 118 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: not worse. So why are so many of us burnt out? 119 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: What's going on? I am Anne Helen Peterson, and I 120 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: write culture study for stub Stack. So one of the 121 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: reasons why I was so excited to speak to you 122 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: today is because I just really have not been like 123 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: in a good place. I guess I've been feeling stuck. 124 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: I've had a hundred kind of work things to do, 125 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: online emails to apply to, these kind of social obligations 126 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: on Zoom. That's somehow to leave me feeling like more 127 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: drained than when I started. And the main thing is 128 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: like nothing was getting done. You know. I would write 129 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: these to do lists and like they would just carry over, 130 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: you know, day by day. And when I read your 131 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: excerpt of your book and Wired, which will put on 132 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: the show notes, it really just struck me. You know, 133 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: you start with this rundown of your digital diet, and 134 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: it was this very familiar and also exhausting mid of 135 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: you know, little task where you feel like you're kind 136 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: of never working but at the same time always working. 137 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: And so I guess my question for you is, I 138 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: know that when you first started writing your buzzbe piece, 139 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: that later became the book Can't Even. It was a 140 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: kind of a way for you to grapple with your own, uh, 141 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: you know, your own issues around burnout and feelings sort 142 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: of burnt out all the time. What did that feel 143 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: like for you? What did that look like for you? 144 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: You know, a lot like what you just described. I mean, 145 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: we weren't in the pandemic, so like I felt like 146 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: social interactions weren't nourishing. They just felt like another thing 147 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: on my to do list. And I felt like that 148 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: to do list was never ending. Like there were the 149 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: things that just gave me so much shame because they 150 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: kept recycling, like one week after or another, that like 151 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: owners task that really isn't probably that hard, but like 152 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: just felt like insurmountable um. But then also just like 153 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: little things like the piddally stuff of life that just 154 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: kept always being there. And I think, you know, for me, 155 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: that is the best description of how burnout feels, is 156 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: that everything becomes like a task to complete instead of 157 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: you know, your life to live, like there's no highs 158 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: and no lows. And that's why, you know, there are 159 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: lots of intersections with like depression and burnout and that 160 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: sort of thing but I think that it burnout feels 161 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: to me at least different insomuch as it is so 162 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: related to your attitude towards work. What are the attitudes 163 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: about work that you dig into? Is this idea that 164 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: our jobs have to be both the filling and also 165 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: quote good jobs, you know, the kind of jobs that 166 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: your parents would be excited to brad about you having. 167 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: And you say that social media has really had a 168 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: hand in building up these fantasy jobs that we should 169 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: be striving to that are simultaneously both really cool and 170 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: good jobs. Yeah, I think that younger people have internalized 171 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: this idea that like jobs should be cool right in 172 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: some capacity, that whatever your job is, whether it's a 173 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: passionate job or a job that is like you know 174 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: on the outside, you're like, oh, I'm just like making 175 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: deals and like having cool drinks after work. I don't 176 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: know like people have. It's hard to describe a cool job, 177 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: you know when you see it. And the way that 178 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: a job becomes cool is oftentimes through our mediation of 179 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: it through social media. Right, So that's like everything from 180 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: taking pictures of your equally cool job mates, like in 181 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,439 Speaker 1: your cool office space too, you know, even just like 182 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: taking a picture that describes like how meaningful and rewarding 183 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: and fulfilling your work is. We are always representing our 184 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: jobs as I think, far more fulfilling and cool than 185 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: they actually are. God, that really res dates with me. 186 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: Something that you write about your piece and I didn't 187 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: even I did not even really notice I was doing 188 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: it until I read your piece. Was the way that 189 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 1: so not only do we have to have our jobs 190 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: look cool on social media, but we also have to 191 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: sort of be constantly using social media to brand ourselves 192 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: in a kind of way. And so even if you 193 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: are not working, what you're posting on social media, you know, 194 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: if you're a journalist, you want to show you want 195 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: to use Twitter to show that you're with it, that 196 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: you're smart, that you're reading good things, and that you're 197 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: influencing others to read good things and have good takes. 198 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: But that is actually work, and so it sort of 199 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: creates this weird thing where your leisure time and your 200 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: work time are kind of blended because you have to 201 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: be branding yourself even though that's not work that you're 202 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: necessarily being paid for it. Kind of we've kind of 203 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: just blurred these lines of what isn't isn't work, and 204 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: that we're always sort of working and it's sucking, exhausting. Yes, well, 205 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: the way I think of it is that, like work, 206 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: the contemporary like feeling of work, like it just seeps 207 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: into every corner of your life. And when we don't 208 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: have very good boundaries about like the space between work 209 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: and non work, that makes it easier for it to 210 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: slip into like, Oh, I just woke up in the morning, 211 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: I'm going to roll over and open up my phone 212 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: and check my email right now at six am, right 213 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: or I'm like feeding my kids and I'm just gonna 214 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 1: like casually scroll through my Slack messages. It just slips 215 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,479 Speaker 1: into all of those places. And of course the pandemic 216 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: has has made that slippery noess even you know more so, Yeah, 217 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: how how do you think the pandemic has really made 218 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: this worse? I know I was reading a piece earlier 219 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: that said that the time that we have saved by 220 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: commuting by people who you know, work at home, now 221 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,079 Speaker 1: we've just filled that with more work. We haven't filled 222 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: that with leisure time or rest or something else. We've 223 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: just losed that time. However much that time it would 224 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: have been that we would be commuting to an office, 225 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: that's just more work time. Now, yes, absolutely, Like everyone 226 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 1: I know who who has recouped rated a commute time 227 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: by having to be at home, they they are not 228 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: like using it to Oh I'm just like having some 229 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: quiet reading time, or I'm meditating, or I'm trying to 230 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: be really present with my kids, you know, any of 231 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: those things that like our best selves would want to 232 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:20,080 Speaker 1: devote that time too. Instead we're just pushing more work 233 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: into it. And this certainly happened to me when I 234 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: moved to Montana in two seventeen. Um, you know, I 235 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: was like, Oh, I'm gonna have so much more time 236 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,439 Speaker 1: to be outside beautiful Montana, Like it's going to be amazing. 237 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: I'm not going to be on the train all the time, 238 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: like work from home going to be great. And instead 239 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: I just worked more than I had worked in in years. 240 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: So being in beautiful Big skuy Montana didn't make you 241 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: feel less barred, doubt, I mean in some ways right 242 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: Like I for me, one of the hard things that 243 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: like daily hard things about living in the city was 244 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: that like just from the way that I grew up, 245 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: I grew up in rural Idaho, like being out of 246 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: the city and in outdoor spaces is like very nourishing 247 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: and replenishing to me, and it was so hard to 248 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: find that. Like I mean, I love the parks in 249 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: New York. They're great. I love parks just in general, fantastic. 250 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: They are not the same as like being in the 251 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: middle of nowhere and um, and it was just, you know, 252 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: I didn't have a car. It was just so hard 253 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: to to get into those spaces from New York. So 254 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: I did have that like available you know to me 255 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: in Montana on a daily basis and especially on the weekends. 256 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: But at the same time, like I think the pictures 257 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:34,959 Speaker 1: that I was taking on social media of like all 258 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: of this beauty, we're a way of trying to tell 259 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: myself a story of how much more balanced my life was. 260 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: Like you're telling the world, but you're also telling yourself 261 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: a story with your social media when in truth, like 262 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: I was just, um, I was just working all the time. 263 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: I was traveling constantly for for my job and also 264 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: for like go speak at colleges and that sort of thing. 265 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: And and oftentimes I think people who do travel a ton, 266 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: it's easy to frame that traveling it's like glamorous life right, Like, 267 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,319 Speaker 1: here I am in the in first class, and you're 268 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: like the only reason you're in first classes because you 269 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: travel so much that you get upgraded, and like the 270 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: only difference in first classes that like your legs don't 271 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: hurt by the end of the flight. Um, but again, 272 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: you tell yourself a story in order to like not 273 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: feel like crap about what the daily existence of your 274 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: life is. Like, let's take a quick rate and we're back, 275 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: So yeah, you say, um. Part of the problem is 276 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: that these digital technologies, from cell phones to Apple watches, 277 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: from Instagram to Slack, encourage our worst habits. They stig 278 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: me are best laid plans for self preservation. They ransack 279 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: our free time. They make it increasingly impossible to do 280 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: things that actually ground us. They turn out run in 281 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: the woods into an opportunity for self optimization. They're the 282 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: neediest and most selfish entity in every interaction I have 283 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: with others. They can compel us to frame experiences as 284 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: we are experiencing them with future captions, and to conceive 285 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: of travel as worthwild only when documented for public consumption. 286 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: And my god, that really, I mean it's true. Sometimes 287 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: I feel like I cannot have an experience if it 288 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: is not filtered through social media, and that this sounds 289 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: really fucked up, but that at times it's almost as 290 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: if if it's not on social media, did it even 291 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: really happen? Like if I have a lovely experience in 292 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: the woods, or a lovely experience while camping or hiking, 293 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: and I'm the only person who knows that it happened, 294 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: did it even really happen? Yeah? Absolutely right, And of 295 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: course it happened, because what actually matters is how it 296 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: made you feel. But I think we've gotten so distance 297 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: from that, Like the only way to know how it 298 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: made us feel is how we're able to present it. 299 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: Feel like, oh, I didn't get any good photos of that. 300 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: You know, that's such a like it doesn't matter, right, 301 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: What actually matters is the time that you spend with 302 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: other people at the time you spent by yourself in 303 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: like a beautiful space. But somehow for it to to 304 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: seem important, to seem like it was worth our time 305 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: not working, we have to make frame it in a 306 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: certain way for public consumption, right. And another thing that 307 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: you write about that I I really like is the 308 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: way that we've kind of our hobbies now need to 309 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: be framed through that kind of framework, Like you write 310 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: about how you know, when you started gardening as a hobby, 311 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: if you could, if you couldn't make your garden look 312 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: nice enough quote unquote nice enough. For social media, it's 313 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: a little it feels like you didn't really do it. 314 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: And you know, I'm a podcaster. I mostly do it 315 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: because that's a medium that I love, But I feel 316 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: this pressure just sort of you know, be using the 317 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: podcast to or using the medium to sort of like 318 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: pitch myself as a product instead of just like exploring 319 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: a medium that I love. And I feel like we've 320 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: gotten to a place where the things that we're meant 321 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: to be doing for leisure are kind of viewed through 322 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: this lens of either a having them be some sort 323 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,199 Speaker 1: of side hustle, because you can't just you know, do 324 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: something to do, but it has to be a business 325 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: entity or be that we're doing it only to be 326 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: consumed consumed by others on social media, and it really 327 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: it kind of robs us of this opportunity for actual 328 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: reflective leisure time. Yeah, totally, for I think for reflective 329 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: leisure time, which you know, I oftentimes there's like different 330 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: kinds of leisure and everyone has to know what it 331 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: is nourishing for them, and some of us like we've forgotten, right, 332 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: Like we've spent so much time mediating it that you're like, 333 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: what do I actually like? Right? Like, if you if 334 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: you're only doing it for yourself, what what do you 335 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: want to do? And that's that's hard to recover, I think, um, 336 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: and then it also it robs you of you know, reflection, 337 00:17:57,800 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: just in terms of like change, you know, I thought 338 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: a lot of about some of the frustration that people 339 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,160 Speaker 1: have about what to post about Black lives matter? Right Like, 340 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: do I like, okay, so the black the black square 341 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: is wrong? But what should I post? Is this being 342 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,400 Speaker 1: too much? Is this not being enough? Like if if 343 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: I'm a black person, do people look to me to 344 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: like figure out what I'm posting? And are they like 345 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: weirded out if I'm not posting? There's just so much 346 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: compulsion instead of people actually trying to figure out what 347 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: would it actually look like to be an ally right, Yeah, 348 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: it's funny that you mentioned this. I felt so much. 349 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 1: I don't want to say anxiety. I felt so much something. 350 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: Let's just use the word tention, even though that doesn't 351 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: even feel like the right word in the moment that 352 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: we had around Black Lives Matter and racial reckoning, a 353 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: with people asking me like, oh, I posted this, do 354 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: you think it's right? And then be the feeling of 355 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: being sort of like like looked too for you know, 356 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: a model of what people should it or shouldn't be posting. 357 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: I got so much sort of tension and anxiety around 358 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: that that opening opening Instagram or opening my social media 359 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: just added this, you know, for an already fraught moment 360 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: for me as a black woman. It added this this 361 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: extra level of just tension and and anxiety that I 362 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,439 Speaker 1: really couldn't navigate to the point where I was just like, 363 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: I'm not going to engage with this online. Like I will, 364 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,119 Speaker 1: I will use the platforms that I feel comfortable using. 365 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: But I can't. I can't. This is I can't show 366 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: up like this online. It's just too draining. Yes, yes, 367 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 1: Like you're trying to deal with like what's actually happening 368 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: in the world, and then you have to drain deal 369 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 1: with like the secondary annoyances, like even if you're not 370 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: intending to like sign on and be annoyed, Like there's 371 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,119 Speaker 1: just things that people are going to be doing that 372 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: are like going to be, like you said, tension, like 373 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:53,680 Speaker 1: it's going to create this tension that you don't actually need. 374 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: Did you feel like not signing, did you feel like 375 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: you were missing something? Or did it feel good? That's 376 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: a great question. It felt good only when I told 377 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: myself that I wasn't going to care what people thought 378 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: on social media, Like I knew what I was doing, 379 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: Like I in my day job, I work for a 380 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,719 Speaker 1: feminist organization that was very much involved in, you know, 381 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: a lot of the movement for Black Lives stuff, So 382 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: I know, I know that I was like doing the 383 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 1: work there. I know that I was showing up at 384 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,880 Speaker 1: protests and like helping where I could. Um. I also 385 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:25,880 Speaker 1: going out physically in protest for protest was a little 386 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: bit tough for me because I'm ammunial compromise, and so 387 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: that was the whole thing. And so once I told myself, 388 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: you know, I know in my real life where I 389 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: stand and what I'm doing, and if anybody thinks anything 390 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: good or bad about what I have or have not 391 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: posted on social media, that is their problem. Reminding myself 392 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: of that constantly and constantly and constantly, like that was 393 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: the only way that I could show up in a 394 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: way that felt not shitty. Yeah, well, and that's the thing, right, 395 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: like you were figuring it out, like you were actually 396 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: figuring it out for yourself instead of figuring it out 397 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: like visa vir reactions to other people's social media accounts. 398 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 1: Right like that to me is really difficult for a 399 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: lot of people to write out. They're so out of 400 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:14,479 Speaker 1: practice at like authentically figuring out their stance and how 401 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: they want to position themselves. Does that make sense? It 402 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: makes so much sense. And I think, like like you said, 403 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: right now, because of the pandemic and because of the 404 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: difficulty that some people have who would want to show 405 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: up in person for a march or demonstration or something 406 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: like and then they just physically cannot um that a 407 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: lot of those messages get mixed, and so you feel 408 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:40,879 Speaker 1: a compulsion like I need to somehow signal that I 409 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: want to be there, and so how do you signal 410 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: it without overly signaling it? So, I mean, I think 411 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: like being especially like people who are how do I 412 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: put this? Um, I think spending some time with yourself 413 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: to actually figure out, you know, do how do I 414 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: perform in a way that actually expresses my allyhood instead 415 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: of or like my devotion to this cause instead of 416 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: thinking about how do I signal my devotion to this cause? 417 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: Does that make sense? Definitely? Yeah, it's funny. I mean, 418 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,199 Speaker 1: you you put that so well. I was just I 419 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: was just reading the part of your essay that's about 420 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: slack and how so much of slack is like signaling 421 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 1: that we are working and not actually doing the work. 422 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: So it's like, oh, I'm thumb nothing my coworkers comment, 423 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: or I'm dropping in a link. Social media has and 424 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: all of these different technologies have given us ways to 425 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 1: signal that we care about the cause, or signal that 426 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,479 Speaker 1: we're paying attention and checked in without actually be like 427 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: doing the thing. Yeah, exactly, And that's it. Just if 428 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: you take up all this time signaling instead of actually 429 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 1: doing like that, it evacuates there, Like it evacuates your 430 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: actions of any sort of intent or power I think. 431 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: And so whether that's slack, like you don't have time 432 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: to work because you're so busy trying to show that 433 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: you're working on slack, I cannot tell you how great 434 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: it is not to be on slack, Like obviously I 435 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: missed like chatting with my coworkers. But when I left 436 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,919 Speaker 1: BuzzFeed in August, like suddenly there wasn't that thing that 437 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: made me feel like, oh, I guess I should like 438 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,399 Speaker 1: I haven't said anything for like half an hour. I 439 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: guess I should like say something. It's just compulsory, and 440 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: that is I think what's oftentimes frustrating is that like, yes, 441 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: I was working, I didn't need to do with thumbs 442 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,120 Speaker 1: up like he said yeah. And I think as as 443 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: like creative professionals, it can be so fraught because you know, 444 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: nobody just sits down in front of the computer and 445 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: like a perfect draft spills out of you and you 446 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: know in twenty minutes or something. But I do feel 447 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: like the time that you spend thinking and sitting in 448 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 1: one of your computer and like I dating or whatever, 449 00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: that's all part of it, but it can feel kind 450 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: of rot. It gives me this like anxiety where it's like, oh, 451 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: I have to like overperformed to show that I worked, 452 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 1: that I was actually working that and not to scooping off. 453 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: And it is kind of a part of me like 454 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: telling myself that I'm not cooping off, even though somewhere 455 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,640 Speaker 1: deep down I know it. It's like this constant thing 456 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: that's such an added distraction from just getting my fucking 457 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: work done well. And I think we oftentimes told ourselves 458 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: stories about work has to look like a certain sort 459 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: of thing, right like instead of work can also look 460 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: like staring into space, where it can look like taking 461 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: a walk. Work can work like not working, um, and 462 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: that has been really hard to especially those of us 463 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: who work in creative fields. It's really hard to understand 464 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: because to us, work is you are sitting in front 465 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: of the computer and you are doing something on that 466 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: computer screen. And it doesn't have to be that way. 467 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: So I want to talk a little bit about how 468 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: did we get to this place? You know, when I 469 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: ready your piece, it really resonated with me. And I 470 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: think the fact that your your buzz vpiece went meta 471 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: viral shows that we're not alone in having these tasks 472 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: that pile up, feeling this this air in paralysis when 473 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: you can't get anything done. How did we how did 474 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: millennials get to this place where we're all so burned out? Well, 475 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:21,879 Speaker 1: I think the way that I try to position in 476 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: the book is so much of it has to do 477 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: with instability, with procarity, and so that's what bonds people 478 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 1: who are you know, working three different gig jobs right now, 479 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: and people who are estensively a middle class but are 480 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: super over indebted both in terms of student debt and 481 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: consumer debt, and still really struggling to figure out like 482 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: how am I going to cover rent next month? Or 483 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: how am I going to find childcare next month? And 484 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,239 Speaker 1: the difference, of course, is that middle class people can 485 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: oftentimes throw money at a problem and do have some 486 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,719 Speaker 1: some sort of a safety net either in terms of 487 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: family bonds, like they can you know, you could always 488 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: move back into that basement, and not everyone has that. 489 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: But still, what we're trying to do is keep trading water, 490 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: and so the energy required to keep trading water oftentimes 491 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: that means like feeling like you have to work all 492 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: the time. That means taking your leisure time and optimizing 493 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: it or monetizing it in some way. And that also 494 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: means throwing a lot of time at parenting because you're 495 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 1: trying to reproduce your own semblance of stability for the 496 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: next generation. Yeah, it's funny. I know that you've written 497 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: about the ways that parenting has a lot to do 498 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: with millennial burn out, and something I found so interesting 499 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: is how this cuts across raith and class lines. It 500 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: just looks differently for different people, depending on their background 501 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: and situations. I know, for me, you know, we grew 502 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: up pretty comfortably, but my mom was the first person 503 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: in her family to go to college. We grew up 504 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: in a black, Southern family. And for them, they were like, 505 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: you know, we want our kids to not you know, 506 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: quote unquote become statistics. And the way to get the 507 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,640 Speaker 1: way to achieve that is through college and a stable job. 508 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: And so the same way the upper middle class white 509 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 1: parent who was interested in their kid going to an 510 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,880 Speaker 1: ivy league college, it's sort of the same, even though 511 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: the cultural and racial, you know, reasonings for getting there 512 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: are different, it's sort of the same thing. Where this 513 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: parenting then sets kids up for this idea that like 514 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: the most important thing is getting a stable job, going 515 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 1: to college, that pathway, and it really can lead to 516 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: kids being raised almost as little adults. Yeah, totally, And 517 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: a lot of that is motivated. And I try to 518 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: do this a bit in the book. It's it is, 519 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: as you said, like, it's motivated by not wanting your 520 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 1: kids to take a step back from where you've gone, 521 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: right and our parents generation, uh, you know, a lot 522 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,199 Speaker 1: of them had reached that that middle class stability some 523 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: semblance of that middle class stability, sometimes for the first 524 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: time in their family history. And sometimes that was through 525 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: going to college and getting a job after that, and 526 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: sometimes it was through like getting a good union job 527 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 1: and having stability that way. And so the goal is, Okay, well, 528 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: I don't want my kids to fall back from where 529 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: I've come, and so you try to imprint all of 530 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: these strategies for success instability, and and you know sometimes 531 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 1: too and this I found this in my interviews, like 532 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 1: sometimes people's parents didn't give a ship right, like they 533 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 1: were like, whatever, you'll figure it out, But the kids 534 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,160 Speaker 1: themselves really picked up through osmosis, you know, from their kids, 535 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: their peers, from their peers, parents, from their teachers, that 536 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: that was the only way that they had to turn 537 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: themselves into a walking resume, even if their parents didn't care. Yeah, 538 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: I definitely feel that this is like reinforced both explicitly 539 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: and implicitly, Like we're just told that this is how 540 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: you're meant to live life, like you're meant to your 541 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: meant your job is meant to be your every thing. 542 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 1: Your identity should be this job, and you should be 543 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: working seven when you're not working. You should be feeling 544 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: guilty about networking or you know, turn whatever. You know, 545 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: if you if you're a bake if you like enjoy 546 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: cooking on the weekends, that should be a business or 547 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: an Instagram page or something that you can never just 548 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: not be you should never be not optimized for working 549 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: or something that looks like working. Yeah, and well, and 550 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: think about that though, Like what was it you know, 551 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: my uh, like my mom would make bread on the weekends, 552 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: but she wasn't like, oh, I need to try to 553 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: like hustle on the side to like make a couple 554 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: of extra dollars. And what it was is that like 555 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 1: they were able to, you know, pay off my dad's 556 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: student loans, Like they were able to buy a house 557 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: in North Idaho. Like they weren't struggling constantly to cover 558 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: the costs of raising a family, Whereas because of incredible 559 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: increases in the cost of living, the cost of childcare, 560 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: the cost of healthcare, so many families that have like 561 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: dual income streams are still struggling and are like, Okay, 562 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: I gotta make an extra fifty dollars every weekend by 563 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: making bread. Yeah, that's something that I think you do 564 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: a nice job. Of illustrating is how in our generation, 565 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: millennials and older millennials, like a lot of us graduated 566 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: into the Great Recession, you know, the dot com burst, 567 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: now the instability of COVID. I feel, like so many 568 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: of us, we have never had the luxury of making 569 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: choices about our life based on security. Like every choice, 570 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: every professional choice I've made, has been based on scarcities 571 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 1: and based on my back is against the wall. Some 572 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: calamity is happening that's completely out of my control, and 573 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: I have to make my professional choices based on this scarcity. 574 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: And we have no idea sort of what it looks 575 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 1: like to be making a life at a time of stability. 576 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: I don't even really I can't even like grasp that. 577 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: It's so true. And I think, like, especially people who 578 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: work in more creative fields, like there's this expectation to that, 579 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: like the company you work for is going to fold, 580 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: Like you know, you're not going to have any sort 581 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: of stable job, Like you can't expect a job to 582 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 1: endure in the way that a lot of our parents 583 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: like started one job and stayed at that job for 584 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: many decades, or like my grandfather worked at one company 585 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: his entire life, right, um, And I think that that 586 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: over our chain procarity so much of it, you know, 587 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 1: it comes from entering into the economy as adults during 588 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: the first Great Recession and then also just like expecting 589 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,719 Speaker 1: the other shoe to drop. Like most millennials I know 590 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: are not surprised by the pandemic. They're like, we're just 591 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 1: waiting for everything to collapse. And to me, that shows 592 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: a psychology that is conditioned towards procarity, right, It's conditioned 593 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: towards never feeling like you have a stability. And what 594 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,520 Speaker 1: that does I think over the course of you know, 595 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: many millions of people over the course of a generation. 596 00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 1: And I think it's going to affect gen z as well. 597 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: Is it it makes it hard to to be confident, 598 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: to experiment, to take risks, you know, like when people 599 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: talk about what having a universal basic income does, or 600 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: even having health insurance that's not tied to employment. Is 601 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: what it does is it allows you to make decisions 602 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: that make life easier for you, right, that make it 603 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 1: so that you can find a job that doesn't feel 604 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: shitty and exploited of um. And it allows you to 605 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: go back to school if you want to. You know, 606 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: there are all sorts of things that having even just 607 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: that modicum of stability permits for people, and we are 608 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: so deeply unfamiliar with that. So how do we get 609 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: to a place where instability is not the internalized norm 610 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: for an entire generation? I mean, create a lot more 611 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: social safety nets. So the big thing that's changed between 612 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: our parents and grandparents generation and now is that so 613 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 1: many of those social safety nets have been eroded. And 614 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 1: I'm talking about like, uh, you know, pretty basic things 615 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 1: like the fact that we have legislators have just largely 616 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: defunded so much funding for public education and so like 617 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: because you have so much student debt that makes it 618 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: harder to you know, if you lose a job, you're like, 619 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: well gonna default on these loans, right, But then also 620 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: just thinking about things like um funding for some funding 621 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: that has never existed, but funding for things like universal 622 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: pre k or even before pre k uh mandatory paternity leave, 623 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: universal health care, like things that are not alien to 624 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: most developed countries across the world. Like these are things 625 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: that actually make life feel like you're not conditioned to precarity. 626 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,479 Speaker 1: But I think that we are so obsessed with this 627 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 1: myth of the individual and somehow if the individual can 628 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,160 Speaker 1: work harder, then you'll get out of precarity. But this 629 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: is why millennials are having these sort of existential crisis. 630 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: So myself included, is you get to this point if 631 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: you're late thirties, right, like the oldest millennials are thirty 632 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 1: nine and forty, and you're like, wait, I thought by 633 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,600 Speaker 1: this point I would have found some stability, And you're like, 634 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: wait a second, like I have kids, or I have 635 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: been you know, been in the workforce for almost twenty years, 636 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,760 Speaker 1: Like where's that stability? Why isn't it here yet, and 637 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: becoming deeply disillusioned and saying like, well, this is just broken. 638 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: We need to fix this entirely. Oh my gosh. It's 639 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: like I I go back and watch these movies that 640 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: I loved in the nineties when I when I watched 641 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: Someone I was young, and all of the main characters 642 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,400 Speaker 1: need to be like twenty five and having some like 643 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: fantastic job or like having a lot of existential dread 644 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: that fact by the fact that they're not, you know, 645 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: but they're turning twenty eight and they don't have their 646 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: life together. And here I am in my mid thirties 647 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,880 Speaker 1: thinking like like, oh, we thought we were gonna have 648 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: stable jobs, stable partner's own houses by the town. We 649 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: we're like twenty five. That like, that was the framework 650 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: we were working with. What is the one? Isn't it 651 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: like my best friend's wedding? There? So funny? So funny? 652 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:29,359 Speaker 1: Oh more, after a quick right, let's get right back 653 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 1: to it. The millennial generation is one of the first 654 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,040 Speaker 1: generations where it's not a given that we'll have things 655 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 1: better than our parents had it. And yet there was 656 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,280 Speaker 1: this attitude where millennials were all lazy or entitled little brats, 657 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: were all whiners. How do we combat those attitudes? Well? 658 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 1: I do think that the messaging is kind of shifted, 659 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,359 Speaker 1: and part of that is, of course that millennials are 660 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 1: now like at the helmet a lot of different publications, 661 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: but just the idea that like millennials have kind of 662 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: been screwed is becoming more are uh popular, I think. 663 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: But then at the same time, I think a lot 664 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 1: of it has to do or the way that we 665 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: can change minds about this is actually having conversations with 666 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: people who are you know, our relatives who are are here, 667 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: like people who are older than us, that we can 668 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 1: actually feel like we can have a real conversation with 669 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: about like, here's tell me about what it was like 670 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: when you had worked your way through college, which is 671 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 1: always the common refrain, right, which is like, I don't 672 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 1: know why you took out all the student debt. I 673 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 1: managed to work my way through college. And you're like, okay, 674 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: so how much did you make a semester? How many 675 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: hours did you work? And then you're like, and here's 676 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: how many hours someone would have to work in order 677 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,560 Speaker 1: to work their way through a state college today, right, 678 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,279 Speaker 1: And those things don't add up. But sometimes you need 679 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 1: to sit someone down and be like, here's how things 680 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: have substantively changed, and like you can do it without 681 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,080 Speaker 1: turning it into like a math lecture, but you can 682 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: be like, here's how the cost of living hasn't changed, right, like, 683 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:03,719 Speaker 1: or like the ore raises haven't um been accompanied by 684 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: changes in for cost of living or even inflation that 685 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,720 Speaker 1: sort of thing. But you know, one of the things 686 00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,359 Speaker 1: that I tried to do a little bit was create 687 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,000 Speaker 1: a little bit of empathy by being like, you know, 688 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,759 Speaker 1: boomers were burnt out in some capacity too, because they 689 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:24,800 Speaker 1: had grown up in this time of unprecedented economic stability, 690 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: and then as they entered the job market in the 691 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:31,919 Speaker 1: nineties seventies, they experienced those first waves supercarity, and we're 692 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,920 Speaker 1: responding to them and so like if anything, you know, 693 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: part of the reason boomers and millennials have such a 694 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: difficult relationship is because I think we are pretty similar 695 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: in a lot of foundational ways. I think that's a 696 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: good point. I think coming come having it come down 697 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: to empathy and having real conversations about what things looked 698 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,400 Speaker 1: like because I don't know. I think about folks who 699 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 1: are you know, the generation you know after me, and 700 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: I want them to know we had a hard time. 701 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: I don't want them to feel as if I want 702 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: them to know that if they are struggling to figure 703 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 1: it out, that we also struggled to figure it out. 704 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: I don't want them to feel like they're alone, or 705 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 1: that they're a whiner, or that they're you know, they 706 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: make their they have some sort of individual failing if 707 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: they can't figure it out, because I do think every 708 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: generation has has their issues with that totally well. And 709 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: I'm seeing, you know, two different kind of discourses come 710 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,360 Speaker 1: out of gen Z and one of them is like, 711 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,839 Speaker 1: you guys were sold a false bill of goods we're 712 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: going to reject that bill of goods. Right, It's like 713 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,319 Speaker 1: we actually think you can like have a different sort 714 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: of life, that college maybe isn't the most important thing 715 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: in the world, that we can do something about climate change, 716 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 1: that you know, everything isn't interractable. So and I'm always 717 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 1: hurted by it, by that posture. But then I also 718 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:58,240 Speaker 1: see some some like stuff that's like, oh my gosh, 719 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:01,839 Speaker 1: why are millennials such whiner? Right, Like they just need 720 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:06,080 Speaker 1: a work harder? And I'm like, don't you dare? So 721 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: I think hopefully by creating not just empathy but actual solidarity, right, 722 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 1: being like, it doesn't have to be this way for us, 723 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,720 Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be this way for you either. 724 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: How can we work together to change it? You make 725 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,359 Speaker 1: this point a lot on your work that I love 726 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,440 Speaker 1: that sometimes when we feel like we don't have a 727 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,680 Speaker 1: lot of power, leaning into the collective, whether it's joining 728 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,359 Speaker 1: a union, which I know more and more young people 729 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 1: are supportive of, or just sharing honest experiences with each 730 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,880 Speaker 1: other can really be the antidote to some of the 731 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,719 Speaker 1: problems that you lay out, you know, the collective, you know, 732 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: feeling like you're part of the United collective can really 733 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,160 Speaker 1: make you feel a lot more powerful and less alone totally. 734 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:47,520 Speaker 1: And it doesn't fix everything, but it does make you 735 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: feel like, I mean, this is the word, right, it 736 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,480 Speaker 1: makes you feel a little less alone, like it makes 737 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,680 Speaker 1: you feel like you're not just fighting this problem on 738 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:59,400 Speaker 1: your own. So much of the writing and content that 739 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: I see around burnout, particularly geared toward women, will always 740 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,440 Speaker 1: have some sort of individual little thing that like, oh, 741 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,360 Speaker 1: this is going to be the silver bullet or the 742 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,879 Speaker 1: magic bullet that that helps you figure it out. So 743 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 1: whether it's using your meditation app or you know, doing 744 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 1: your self care manicure, or you know, quit your nine 745 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:20,840 Speaker 1: to five and be your own girl boss. And I 746 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: am my own boss, and I can tell you that 747 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: my boss sucks. Working for her is not great all 748 00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 1: the time, you know. And I can't think, you know, 749 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:34,160 Speaker 1: it's it's not these individual choices or actions that are 750 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,840 Speaker 1: going to save us from something that is systemic, that 751 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,880 Speaker 1: is that is bigger than us. And you know, I 752 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,600 Speaker 1: think the real issue is capitalism, you know. And I 753 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,239 Speaker 1: guess my question is how a how do we get 754 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,880 Speaker 1: to a place where we unlearn that it's an like 755 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: we are doing something wrong individually. If we are feeling 756 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,080 Speaker 1: burnt out and be how can we go forward knowing 757 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,359 Speaker 1: that the real issue is so much bigger than us, 758 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: you know, it's funny. So there was a critique of 759 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 1: the book that was, like, this book doesn't talk enough 760 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: about therapy, right, And I get it because I do 761 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: think that a lot of the neuroses that millennials have developed, 762 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:14,759 Speaker 1: a lot of them are things that like we need 763 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: to work through on the personal level, um, through therapy 764 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: if possible, even though therapy is not accessible to so 765 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: many people. Um. But I also think that, like we've 766 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,520 Speaker 1: been taught oftentimes that like, oh, if you have a 767 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:32,000 Speaker 1: problem with this work play scenario, that's a personal problem, 768 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,319 Speaker 1: instead of thinking about like, oh, well everyone I work 769 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 1: with has this problem with this workplace, so maybe it's 770 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: a workplace problem, right, like, or all of these people 771 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,360 Speaker 1: feel the same way in society right now. Instead of 772 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: that being a personal problem, it's societal problem. It's not 773 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,160 Speaker 1: something that you can just work through on your own. 774 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,879 Speaker 1: And also, almost every millennial I know who burnt out, 775 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,000 Speaker 1: who is burnt out, is either going to therapy or 776 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: has been going to therapy. Right, It's not like therapy, 777 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,880 Speaker 1: it's going to solve those larger issues as well. And 778 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,160 Speaker 1: so what we have to think about is what are 779 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:13,080 Speaker 1: these systems that are that are making everything so sucky? Right? Like? 780 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:17,120 Speaker 1: What are what are the systems that make the scenario 781 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,920 Speaker 1: that leads us to burn out? And I'm hardened actually 782 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,319 Speaker 1: by even just like the willingness for us to say 783 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: things like capitalism allowed, Like even ten years ago, it 784 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:31,440 Speaker 1: was kind of like a like third rail, like oh 785 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,520 Speaker 1: are you a socialist? Like, oh, are you part of 786 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: the occupying movement to like talk about capitalism as this problem? 787 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 1: Whereas now, like I mean, in part of it, I 788 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,359 Speaker 1: think is the success of memes and even just like 789 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 1: all over TikTok and Twitter, like you see a very 790 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 1: clear indictment of capitalism as the source of a lot 791 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,520 Speaker 1: of our ills. And I think that, like you know, 792 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,600 Speaker 1: regardless of my personal politics, which are like much more 793 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 1: radical than anything that I can see us implementing in 794 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,880 Speaker 1: the United States in our lifetime, I do think that 795 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: there are ways to make capitalism work for the worker, 796 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,960 Speaker 1: and that that is possible, and that there are plans 797 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: or policy suggestions that can make that possible and we 798 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,560 Speaker 1: can do it. The big first step is regime change. 799 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,480 Speaker 1: So even though it's hokey to say, like we have 800 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:18,480 Speaker 1: to vote, like we have to resume change, and then 801 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: we have to make some big changes and be willing 802 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: to make ourselves amenable to those changes, not just incremental ones, 803 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,960 Speaker 1: but things that might feel scary, um, because they're going 804 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:31,960 Speaker 1: to reorganize our lives, and I think for the better. 805 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: So I might have to ask, you know, in your 806 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,480 Speaker 1: in the excerpts that I read, you talked about feeling 807 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:40,920 Speaker 1: so burnt out and how writing that BuzzFeed piece was 808 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,279 Speaker 1: in a in a way trying to kind of come 809 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,319 Speaker 1: to terms with that. How has that how has that 810 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:47,840 Speaker 1: looked like for your personal journey? Are you still feeling 811 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:51,919 Speaker 1: that way where you give me give me a check in, Well, 812 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 1: I'm pretty burnt out in the moment, I think because 813 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,680 Speaker 1: I'm trying to wrestle starting like this newsletter that I'm 814 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,200 Speaker 1: doing is basically like be made my own shitty boss, 815 00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 1: like you said, but then also letting getting this book 816 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:07,840 Speaker 1: out into the world, which requires a lot of talking 817 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: about the book, which I find incredibly gratifying, but it 818 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: also is time right um. And and then trying to 819 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,319 Speaker 1: think to the future about other big projects like whether 820 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:23,600 Speaker 1: that's books or whatever. And it was all really amplified 821 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:25,320 Speaker 1: for me a couple of weeks ago when the smoke 822 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,319 Speaker 1: got so bad out here in the West and I 823 00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 1: realized that, like the one release valve that I had 824 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:36,239 Speaker 1: cultivated over the course of just general work stress but 825 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,960 Speaker 1: also like COVID and quarantine stress, was being able to 826 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,640 Speaker 1: go outside. And when that was taken away from me 827 00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:44,640 Speaker 1: for a week, I was just like, I I have nothing, 828 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:49,359 Speaker 1: Like I'm collapsing under the weight of this this house 829 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:51,279 Speaker 1: of cards that I've built for myself. And I think 830 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: that drove home to me, like just how fragile things were, 831 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: Like I've the balance was in my life of trying 832 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:04,520 Speaker 1: to keep working and some sort of release uh at 833 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,400 Speaker 1: the same time. But I mean the thing for myself like, no, 834 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: of course I'm not cure to burnout. But what I 835 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,400 Speaker 1: can do is I can recognize burnout behaviors more easily. 836 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:15,719 Speaker 1: They can try to like see them for what they 837 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 1: are and just kind of not judge them, but be like, Okay, 838 00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: how can I maybe shift a couple of things just 839 00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,040 Speaker 1: quietly in my life to to try to change that 840 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:27,160 Speaker 1: um And you know, talking about it definitely makes it 841 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:31,279 Speaker 1: feel better. I agree. I have to tell you you're 842 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,160 Speaker 1: You're writing and burnout made me feel you know. We 843 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,960 Speaker 1: talked about the collective and feeling less alone. Just knowing 844 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,239 Speaker 1: that I'm not the only person who feels such incredible 845 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:45,640 Speaker 1: shame around my atrocious inbox or my inability to just 846 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:48,600 Speaker 1: get simple ship done, or the package that's been in 847 00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:51,440 Speaker 1: the back of my car for six months. Just knowing 848 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:55,960 Speaker 1: that it's not just me really gave me the power 849 00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,880 Speaker 1: to just start thinking about it and talking about it honestly, 850 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:01,000 Speaker 1: like like, I really you feel like you opened up 851 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,520 Speaker 1: that space for so many people, myself included to do that. 852 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,279 Speaker 1: So I'm so grateful for your work. Yeah, I think 853 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:08,000 Speaker 1: it was something that a lot of us were ashamed 854 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:11,480 Speaker 1: of for a long time. It's like we there was 855 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,719 Speaker 1: this idea that you had to somehow be like doing 856 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:16,640 Speaker 1: all the ship right, like that you had to like 857 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 1: keeping it all be keeping it all together at all times. 858 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:23,200 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, even the people who are like, oh, 859 00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:25,920 Speaker 1: I'm so authentic on Instagram or whatever like that is 860 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:29,840 Speaker 1: such a performance of like messiness, Like it's not actual 861 00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:35,000 Speaker 1: messiness or vulnerability. And so I just hope that we 862 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:37,680 Speaker 1: can continue to have this conversation in all of the 863 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,880 Speaker 1: different directions it takes us, and also continue to be 864 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:42,920 Speaker 1: really piste off about it because I want to use 865 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:49,160 Speaker 1: that anger, uh and use it to push us towards change. 866 00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:53,480 Speaker 1: Nothing we're dealing with right now is normal. So if 867 00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,040 Speaker 1: you're feeling burnt out or like you can't get anything 868 00:46:56,080 --> 00:47:00,080 Speaker 1: done or you can't find any motivation, that's okay. One 869 00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:03,440 Speaker 1: of us are operating under normal circumstances, and you shouldn't 870 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:06,480 Speaker 1: expect yourself to perform like we are. How have you 871 00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:09,160 Speaker 1: been dealing with burnout? Hit us up at Hello at 872 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:14,040 Speaker 1: tangodi dot com and let us know if you're interested 873 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:16,080 Speaker 1: in issues like culture and tech and media, and you 874 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:18,640 Speaker 1: probably are. If you're listening to this podcast, don't miss 875 00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:22,040 Speaker 1: Unfinished Live. You can hear Anne Helen Peterson in conversation 876 00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:24,760 Speaker 1: with Charlie Worzel on the future of work, Sophia Noble, 877 00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:28,000 Speaker 1: author of Algorithms of Oppression, on equity and tech, Casey 878 00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:30,680 Speaker 1: Newton on the Creator Academy, and Neil Dash with a 879 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 1: rallying cry for a free digital future. All Out Unfinished 880 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:38,479 Speaker 1: Live September happening live at the Shed in New York 881 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:40,879 Speaker 1: and for those of you who can't attend in person, 882 00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:43,880 Speaker 1: don't worryry, We got you. The talks on live podcasts, 883 00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:47,160 Speaker 1: including our very first ever live Tangoti taping, will be 884 00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,320 Speaker 1: available to stream virtually as well. It's a great opportunity 885 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,279 Speaker 1: to learn about how we can all use ethical tech 886 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,719 Speaker 1: to build a fairer economy and a stronger democracy, alongside 887 00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:58,760 Speaker 1: the leading mind shaping that future. The in person experience 888 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,640 Speaker 1: includes two days of talk by leading thinkers, live podcast 889 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:05,680 Speaker 1: recordings like my Own, an interactive audio experiment, clubhouse conversations 890 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:08,560 Speaker 1: on I'm mers of art, installation, networking opportunities, and more. 891 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:11,000 Speaker 1: Just go to a live dot unfinished dot com and 892 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:13,960 Speaker 1: use promo code tangodi. That's t A N G O 893 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,279 Speaker 1: T I and I cannot wait to see all there 894 00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:23,360 Speaker 1: got a story about an interesting thing in tech or 895 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:25,239 Speaker 1: just want to say hi? You can reach us at 896 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,040 Speaker 1: Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts 897 00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: for today's episode at tangodi dot com. There Are No 898 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:32,600 Speaker 1: Girls on the Internet was created by me bridget tod 899 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,240 Speaker 1: It's a production of I Heart Radio and Unboss creative 900 00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:38,600 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our 901 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:42,120 Speaker 1: producer and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. 902 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,080 Speaker 1: I'm your host, bridget Todd. If you want to help 903 00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:48,120 Speaker 1: us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For 904 00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:50,360 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I Heart Radio, check out the iHeart 905 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:52,960 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts, 906 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,520 Speaker 1: And then I have to w