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There's a narrative that everyone now is stressed/busy/anxious – do you find this relatable? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Go to the 'Lifestyle' section of a broadsheet and they paint a picture that we are all struggling to deal with stress and overwhelm. This is portrayed as an unavoidable feature of modern life.

A few things make it hard to believe –

Firstly, it just doesn't square with my daily experiences. I'm not stressed out and overwhelmed, while living a pretty normal lifestyle with full-time work plus childcare and sports etc.
The stats don't bear it out. Working time has gone way down – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Average_annual_hours_per_worker – it's below 35 hours a week most places, 46.25 in the highest in that table. Yes when I worked 80 hours a week I was exhausted, but that's not the norm, and the papers talk about it like it's some inescapable trend.
Then there's the stats on TV-watching. How can it be true that modern life is hectic AND people watch telly for three hours a day?

I know this is coming across as a rant diguised as an AskLemmy question, but I have real curiosity about it.... am I the exception for not feeling busy? Is there some explanation I am missing for why people in a society with 35-hour workweeks feel busy? Do you find the 'hectic modern life' narrative relatable? Do you think people are lying about being busy for some reason, e.g. to avoid being asked to do things?

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[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm happy that you are at a point where you find life to be stable and well-paced. For a lot of people, whatever comforts they might be enjoying are riding on a razor-thin margin. Holding together well at first glance, but only one financial, health, or other incident away from a world of hurt.

~~Also, whoever downvoted me right out of the gate could you please take a moment to explain yourself.~~ The thought I had of someone in an ivory tower dismissing my comment first thing as I'm commuting to work wasn't sitting right with me. Yeah, I'm stressed.