As writer Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” However, whether or not we can customize them entirely how we want is up for debate.
The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. But according to TikTok user ‘Debate Her,’ this goes against our design.
In one of her recent videos, the self-proclaimed reformist explained how she thinks we got to this huge number and why it’s bigger than it should be.
If you’re feeling burned out and tired all the time, it might not be a you problem
Image credits: Nataliya Vaitkevich (not the actual photo)
Afer a TikTok user addressed the 40-hour workweek
Image credits: debateher
Another one, who goes on the platform by the nickname ‘Debate Her’ jumped into the conversation, explaining how we got here
“No, but seriously, it’s 2023 and humans are working more today than they ever have in history. So how did we get here? Great question. I would love to tell you because no, you’re not lazy, you’re overworked and we were never meant to live this way.
For 95% of human history up until about the 1600s, humans worked on average 4-6 hours a day for maybe 42% – 50% of the days of the year.”
Image credits: debateher
“Work was done leisurely and self-paced and long breaks for food, naps, and avoiding the hottest hours of the day was expected and the norm. These patterns are so prevalent across cultures, it’s believed that this is the natural working rhythm that humans prefer.
What changed? How did we go from working a few hours a day less than half of the days of the year to this? Well, a few things. It was a series of changes made by capitalists for capitalists to slowly push the tolerance of workers to get us to where we are. Starting with clocks.
Gone were the days of showing up to work when you were ready, instead you’re expected to be there at a set time.”
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
“Now, at first, workers didn’t comply to this so the capitalists worked hand in hand with the government to make being late to work a punishable crime. So after that forced compliance was upheld, the boundaries were pushed a little further.
Standardized and significantly reduced break times, less and less holidays and instead of having a few weeks off multiple times a year, most employees now maybe got a vacation right around Christmas.
The traditional public school model that we were all raised in was literally designed to create obedient workers who wouldn’t question how much freedom they have. It only took a few generations for humans to go from working as needed to working long hours with short breaks most of the year.”
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)
“No time for rest, for hobbies, for your family, nothing. Profit margins and GDP skyrocketed but workers were making less than ever before.
This trend of a few capitalists at the top working hand in hand with the government to slowly milk as much labor out of the population as possible, while cutting costs as much as possible, just compounded year after year.
Meanwhile, corporate consolidation ensured that fewer and fewer people actually reaped the benefits of capitalism. Leading us to where we are today.
Where we’re in the richest society has ever been but the wealth inequality is so great that the majority of us are barely scraping by.”
The clip has been viewed over 2 million times
@debateher #stitch with @BeevesOfTime #capitalism #anticapitalism #overworked ♬ original sound – Debate Her
And has ignited a discussion on the modern work day
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