Performance Culture
Society has changed a lot over the past decade, the influence of the internet is growing at a rapid rate. Social media has become an omnipresent phenomenon, as well as performance culture becoming more and more prevalent. Combine these two and you get a perfect storm for mental well being issues.
Especially among the young adults, otherwise known as the millennials. Who would've guessed that that the generation that could become anything would also be the generation where mental well being issues would be the most prevalent. More and more young adults are suffering from a burnout. Therefore, in the Netherlands burnouts are the leading cause of sick-leave among young adults. With performance culture being one of the primary reason for burnouts, not just among businesses, it is also prevalent among university students. The pressure from expectation, not just from their own but also the environment, is crushing.
The external pressure among university students to perform comes in a multitude of ways. There is the ever present pressure to score high marks on exams and projects to stand out. To practice sports at a top level. Gain experience abroad by traveling or interning at a foreign company. Gaining experience as a board member for an association. All while maintaining a job on the side in the relevant field of your study.
Why do young adults put this kind of pressure on themselves? Like I said, the generation that could become anything, herein lies the problem. From a very young age parents and society have taught our generation that we could become whatever we wanted. All we had to do was have a dream and work for it. This has taught us to always have ambitions and expectations for ourselves. However, these ambitions and expectations were never corrected or tempered.
On top of this kind of upbringing we've also have a social media climate that provide inspiration for endless ambitions and expectations. People tend to only show the good moments of their lives, the successes, the happy moments. This gives a twisted impression of the lives of our peers. An impression we use to compare and measure our lives to. The combination of this internal and external pressure may very well lead to allot of burn-outs among young adults.
I don't think it is fair to blame the generation that raised us. We can't forget that they had to raise children in a time of economic prosperity. A time where the internet was still in its infancy. Ultimately, this is a problem of luxury and prosperity. In the end I believe everyone will learn how to manage their expectations and ambitions one way or another. Either by burning-out and trying to find out why. Or by their upbringing and education.
Until next time.
- Stef Nijenhuis