A review by avalydia
Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, by Anne Helen Petersen
4.0
I remember passing around the original article that eventually became this book, and I really, really relate to the concept of "errand paralysis":
There's just so many little things to do, and hardly any time, let alone the mental energy, to do them. And any time I have to call someone, like my internet provider or health insurance company, I just know it's going to be an overlong, unnecessarily complicated process and that makes it seem like even more of a herculean effort.
Also felt personally attacked by the passage on social media use:
YES! That is me! Every day of my life! Ever since college, I have not been able to write anything substantial. I used to love writing when I was in middle school and high school, and then somewhere along the way it became so that I couldn't make it two sentences without checking my email or my favorite blog (hell, I can't make it through a Goodreads review either). So then I hate myself for being so unproductive, and then every time I open the Google Doc again, all those feelings come back.
The author mentions that she was able to write again when she went off the grid for a week in a cabin somewhere but like... even aside from being able to afford that, cost-wise, how can you afford to disconnect on a regular basis? Go silent until your friends start another group chat without you? Miss something important in the news, especially in today's political climate? Stop engaging with the accounts you actually do enjoy?
Would love to know the answer to that...
None of these tasks was essential, not really. They were just the humdrum maintenance of everyday life. But no matter what I did, I couldn't bring myself to take the knives to get sharpened, or drop off my favorite boots to get resoled, or complete the paperwork and make the phone call and find the stamp so that my dog could be properly registered... All of these high-effort, low-gratification asks seemed equally impossible" (xiii).
There's just so many little things to do, and hardly any time, let alone the mental energy, to do them. And any time I have to call someone, like my internet provider or health insurance company, I just know it's going to be an overlong, unnecessarily complicated process and that makes it seem like even more of a herculean effort.
Also felt personally attacked by the passage on social media use:
I think, I should really start writing. I go to the Google Doc draft open in my browser. Oops, I mean I go to the clothing website to see if the thing I put in my cart last week is on sale... I write two hundred words in my draft before deciding I should sign that contract for a speaking engagement that's been sitting in my Inbox of Shame. I don't have a printer or scanner, and I can't remember the password for the online document signer... Trump does a bad tweet. Someone else wrote a bad take. I eke out some more writing between very important-seeming Slack conversations about Joe Jonas's musculature."
YES! That is me! Every day of my life! Ever since college, I have not been able to write anything substantial. I used to love writing when I was in middle school and high school, and then somewhere along the way it became so that I couldn't make it two sentences without checking my email or my favorite blog (hell, I can't make it through a Goodreads review either). So then I hate myself for being so unproductive, and then every time I open the Google Doc again, all those feelings come back.
The author mentions that she was able to write again when she went off the grid for a week in a cabin somewhere but like... even aside from being able to afford that, cost-wise, how can you afford to disconnect on a regular basis? Go silent until your friends start another group chat without you? Miss something important in the news, especially in today's political climate? Stop engaging with the accounts you actually do enjoy?
Would love to know the answer to that...