By Yassmin Shaltout '20 (bio below)
The following blog posts feature an anthropological analysis of primary data in the form of Instagram posts and semi-structured interviews with wellness-focused college seniors as well as a professional mental health counselor (pseudonyms are used in order to protect participant confidentiality). We exist in a society that values profit over people and places economic development above human needs. Amidst this toxicity, this blog is an attempt to center human voices, bring attention to cultural pressure, and inspire a movement of resistance that can last with us beyond the era of COVID19.
Pandemic Productivity - How is it tied to Capitalism?
“Doing the most you possibly can in the amount of time you have...I think of universities, NYC, and corporate America when I think about the perfect representation of mainstream productivity”
-Niki, University Student
To Isla, it means “striving for perfectionism” and to Anna, it means “effective time management and the achievement of goals.” These sentiments might sound familiar. To most Americans, productivity is continuous fast-paced work with no breaks in order to maximize a profit of some kind. Niki continued: “it’s the idea that you’re a machine rather than human and that you should express maximum effort for the benefit of your work, company, or country.” What happens to these internalized cultural feelings when the world is forced to slow down? Pandemic productivity! This notion refers to the plethora of social media, blog, and news posts that are encouraging individuals to spend their increased “free time” during this pandemic to work on personal projects, learn new skills, or monetize a hobby. In addition to these encouragements is an added societal pressure to conform. One particularly popular Instagram page recently posted a graphic which quoted:
“if you don’t come out of this quarantine with: new skills, your side hustle started, more knowledge - you never lacked time, you lacked discipline.”
Firstly, this outlook is extremely privileged because “not everyone has this luxury, people are in crisis mode and many have several huge responsibilities to take care of” shared Isla. Not everyone has the situational capability or resources to devote their pandemic time to a side hustle or self improvement and people seem to be increasingly aware of acknowledging this gap in privilege. According to Professional Mental Health Counselor Carmen, pandemic productivity posts are “aggressive” and do not acknowledge that “we are not on the same boat...those who promote pandemic productivity must be careful to not forget that this crisis affects everyone differently.” Aside from the evident disregard for privilege, we must secondly think about the systems that have caused us to internalize pandemic productivity posts.
Who does this mindset benefit?
Ultimately, ignoring human needs in order to maximize profit within a capitalist system benefits the wealthy. We live in a generation where dependable employment and the insurance of a living wage, universal healthcare, food security, and affordable education are growing “increasingly out of reach” (Misra-2020). These failures of the political economy to adequately provide are covered up by the growing side-hustle culture which “motivates” people to monetize hobbies and learn new skills in order to fill the gaps of security. These motivations have been exposed even further through pandemic productivity rhetoric. The systems and structures which surround us play a huge role in influencing human behavior as well as the conceptualization of a person’s values - we are all a product of our environments. These systems and structures refer to any overarching construction which impacts the formation of social norms through direct or indirect enforcement. In a Marxist sense, mainstream culture is produced by the ruling class in order to justify inequality and keep the “proletariat” distant from success (Marx-1993). Pandemic productivity culture is just another attempt to place blame on individual failure in character rather than acknowledging that our society thrives on a system which is designed to keep certain individuals successful and comfortable by keeping other individuals under-served and exploited.
We’ve learned to accept the oppressive ideologies of capitalism as a social norm but some individuals are beginning to teach us how to resist - through truly understanding the meaning of self care.
The Counter Movement, How New Focuses on Wellness Might Indicate Deeper Cultural Changes
“We know that the pandemic is a trauma, and our bodies will respond as such. When we experience trauma we might need more sleep, a gentle routine that honors rest and light movement, and to take longer breaks during an argument...this is an unprecedented traumatic situation that requires us to be gentle and kind to ourselves more than ever.”
- Carmen, Professional Mental Health Counselor
Thousands of wellness-based social media pages, blog writers, and other influencers are encouraging people to ignore the productivity hype. These individuals have embraced productivity as practicing self care rather than learning a new trade or launching a side-hustle, they’re encouraging people to move their bodies, get adequate rest and nutrition, connect with loved ones, and learn to give grace to complex emotions. This sensibility is reflected in response to the pandemic productivity post quoted above. With the last line “you never lacked time, you lacked discipline” crossed out replaced with: “You are doing just fine. We are going through a collective traumatic experience. Not everyone has the privilege of turning a pandemic into something fun or productive.” This iconic edit has now been circulated widely through social media and has inspired others to think deeply about the root of their guilt-ridden thoughts regarding the inability to conform to pandemic productivity.
“I can take the time that I need to process because these times are not normal and it’s okay to feel emotionally strange...I’ve had lots of time for inward self reflection - it’s been surprisingly helpful for my mental health.”
-Isla, University Student
Her thoughts were echoed by Niki who similarly expressed “my standards for myself have changed” and by Anna who explained that she’s re-conceptualized the value of her “leisurely activities” such as baking and writing letters to friends by including them in her to-do lists and checking them off. It is evident that disciplinary power is culturally-driven, internalized, and acted upon by will. These externally driven forces of guilt are a form of social suffering. The theoretical framework of Affliction acknowledges this dynamic by identifying one’s suffering beyond physical pain and incorporating potential sources for unwellness which are crafted by societal standards (Das-2015). Our understanding of illness must expand to recognize people’s worsened mental health experiences which have been caused by the internalization of capitalistic values. Undoubtedly, “external pressure can be exhausting and demanding on our mental health” shared Carmen. The best way to overcome these notions is to embrace:
“honest conversations around wellness and productivity that balance those pressures and realities, while acknowledging that the prescribed model of “success” isn’t always conducive to one’s mental health and ability to thrive”
-Carmen, Professional Mental Health Counselor
Human suffering does not happen in a vacuum, worsened mental health effects in correlation to stress is a reality that many people face. People should not be working two jobs and monetizing a hobby just to make ends meet while being culturally pressured into thinking that their life conditions and mental health experiences are somehow at the fault of their individual character. There is a difference between working hard and experiencing burnout - social safety nets should be ready to provide support for such cases and their lack of availability in order to protect “freedom” is a rhetorical scam. People are slowly waking up to this, it is not a coincidence that the era of self-care is coinciding with a heightened following of progressive ideology such as democratic socialism.
Challenging the repressive norms is the only way to begin correcting such societal imbalances. Systems, capitalism being a prominent one, always exist to serve a greater purpose - this purpose is the establishment and maintenance of power. Counterculture movements have the power to expose these truths in an effort to strive for equality. Mainstream discourse creates culture and consequently this discourse becomes the culture, the narratives we circulate produce social knowledge and thus we have power to inspire change. Changing the definition of pandemic productivity from commodifying free-time to simply taking care of ourselves while setting the expectation that the political economy should provide a certain standard of living for its people can be a great place to start this miniature cultural revolution.
Works Cited
Das, Veena. 2015. Affliction: Health, Disease, Poverty. New York: Fordham University Press.
Marx, Karl. 1993. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, vol. 3, trans. D. Fernbach. New
York: Penguin Classics.
Misra, Kiran. 2020. Why you should ignore the pressure to be productive during lockdown” The Guardian, April 24.
Bio: Yassmin Shaltout is a graduating senior at Wake Forest University majoring in Anthropology with minors in Biology and Chemistry. She is passionate about human wellness and social justice and is hoping to pursue a career in holistic pediatric care as a physician.