Interesting article that I feel nails a lot of the social influences that have informed normative millennial behavior and mindset. I agree that financial instability, economic recessions, and changes in the exchange of labor for wages have all informed how millennials view work. but I think the author makes an few false assumptions, or at least reaches pretty far for these points:
1. That millennials have "optimized" their existence in order to work more or get more done. Outside of specific industries that pressure their employees to work away from work, like the tech industry, I don't think millennials are all using Grubhub and Instacart so that they can work from home and stay "on the job."
2. The entire concept of "errand paralysis" as a condition tied to the overwhelming stress of feeling like we need to be working all the time. If anything, I would argue that the examples she gives in the article are of millennials who are coping worse with the same mundane tasks that all previous generations have managed: stuff like paying bills, mailing letters, returning unwanted purchases.
I do think the general concept of burnout the writer expresses is real but I honestly wonder how concepts like resilience and perseverance and life-long learning figure into the issue.
My reaction to stuff like this quote:
While writing this piece, I was orchestrating a move, planning travel, picking up prescriptions, walking my dog, trying to exercise, making dinner, attempting to participate in work conversations on Slack, posting photos to social media, and reading the news. I was waking up at 6 a.m. to write, packing boxes over lunch, moving piles of wood at dinner, falling into bed at 9. I was on the treadmill of the to-do list: one damn thing after another.
is just, take care of your shit or do less. Everyone makes dinner, use Slack if you want to.
