Gemma Speck

Actually, you know, looking back culturally, if you lost out on work, if you chose not to work, like you were generally viewed pretty harshly.

You were stigmatized for not doing so and you would suffer like your family wouldn't eat.

There wasn't as much social security.

So on a huge scale, and I know this is a psychology podcast, but to get historical, like this, our entire structure towards work and productivity and perceived responsibility is

shifted.

It shifted from doing what was needed to doing everything in excess and what was required from you.

And suddenly it's also the individual's problem if work is not being done and money is not being made.

That's a stressful burden.

If we move forward to modern day, you know, we now have unions, we have more adequate workers' rights in a lot of countries.

You know, a lot of places have weekends off.

Holiday pay is another example.

But what we now have that wasn't around back then that is still contributing to this is online platforms like LinkedIn and social media.

And they are a huge contributor to why you feel bad about resting.

What do we do when we have five minutes in between meetings, five minutes in between appointments, five minutes whilst our pasta boils?

We pick up our phones and we scroll.

And in that moment, we can potentially see dozens of other people doing more than us.

And this creates competition with how we use our time.

And where there is competition, you know, there are winners and there are losers.

There are people with greater status and people with lower status.

I'm going to explain this a little bit better.