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Burnout burns everywhere
I'm sure that, by now, most of us have read the buzzfeed article about millennials and burnout. If not I'll link it at the end (mobile posting may be better on dw, but it is not without challenges).
However, when I read it, as much as I loved it, it fell strangely flat for me as well. It seemed to come so close to understanding the issue, while ultimately failing. By presenting burnout as a condition of an age cohort, rather than of abuse by capitalism and other marginalizing forces, it seemed to suggest, inadvertently, that there was no solution to be found outside that age cohort.
And yet, as this response so neatly points out, that is an aching blind spot. We are not the first people to burn out just for being born in the 90s.We burn out for being poor, being isolated, being unhealthy and unhelped, and for many of us (most, perhaps), for being queer or women or black or brown, for being esl speakers or autistics.
And that means that the techniques--for coping but more importantly for revolution--that our forebears in these many margins developed are just as useful to us as them. And far more so than the techniques presented by businesses trying to swallow our cash and call it caring.
It also means that, outside ourselves, there are people who have these problems, need these solutions, and will stand beside us to fight for them.
Of course, burnout is more universal among millennials and gen Z (yes, already) than in previous generations. But it has little to do with our age and everything to do with our conditions being worse and worsening. And we're not the only ones trapped here.
However, when I read it, as much as I loved it, it fell strangely flat for me as well. It seemed to come so close to understanding the issue, while ultimately failing. By presenting burnout as a condition of an age cohort, rather than of abuse by capitalism and other marginalizing forces, it seemed to suggest, inadvertently, that there was no solution to be found outside that age cohort.
And yet, as this response so neatly points out, that is an aching blind spot. We are not the first people to burn out just for being born in the 90s.We burn out for being poor, being isolated, being unhealthy and unhelped, and for many of us (most, perhaps), for being queer or women or black or brown, for being esl speakers or autistics.
And that means that the techniques--for coping but more importantly for revolution--that our forebears in these many margins developed are just as useful to us as them. And far more so than the techniques presented by businesses trying to swallow our cash and call it caring.
It also means that, outside ourselves, there are people who have these problems, need these solutions, and will stand beside us to fight for them.
Of course, burnout is more universal among millennials and gen Z (yes, already) than in previous generations. But it has little to do with our age and everything to do with our conditions being worse and worsening. And we're not the only ones trapped here.
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I feel a lot of coverage of Millennial Issues - both sympathetic and not - have this sort of foundation of "oh no! young middle class professionals are facing issues that used to be confined to working class and poor people!"
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That said, academics (as opposed to reporters) are doing much better these days at recognizing that poverty has always had these kinds cultural markers and that a gener as tion made up almost entirely of people in poverty will lead to a social shift towards the culture of poverty.
So at least we're not completely SoL I guess?
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This is very true and very important.
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And yeah, I'm especially sick to death of corporate wellness campaigns telling me to go take a bubble bath like that's going to make a dent in the crushing grip of late-stage capitalism.
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