(Un)Healthy Hustling

Could we not make a trend out of everything? Could we stop trying to make a one-size-fits-all approach to mold ourselves into Instagrammable aesthetic hustlers? Maybe not. Social media’s influence on modern trends and lifestyles runs deep, from beauty trends and fitness lifestyles to consumer behavior, and social media lifestyle trends have our society in a chokehold.

We’ve turned our lives into trends like the “that girl” trend, “it girl lifestyle”, “gym rat” life, filled with value judgments and underlying connotations of worth. We have turned health into a trend, and there is nothing more unhealthy than that. But beyond that, we have made it into a grind culture. Hustle culture. Do this, do that, be the best, be the most productive. You do not have to like the lifestyle, but you have to do it, grind it out, and accomplish the most things.

One thing is worth clarifying from the start. If you, as a person, enjoy your routine, whether it fits an Instagram aesthetic or not, that’s good. If it happens to support the lifestyle you have, brings you peace, and works, then more power to you. The point of this article is to illustrate the damaging approach of social media, making unattainable lifestyles that people feel obliged to do, to be the most productive, or the “best” version of themselves, even if social media users do not really want or like the approach portrayed so convincedly by a hashtag; they just feel compelled to.

Things like waking up early, meditating, and eating well used to be genuine ways of promoting wellness, of promoting health. If we make them about who can do the most productive healthy things in a day, if it becomes a competition of getting the cleanest foods, the most efficient system (which also does not take into account socioeconomic factors), it becomes a chore, and most importantly, unhealthy. We are doing these things to be healthier, but with an unhealthy mindset going into them.

Sure, meditation at 6 a.m. may help you feel better. But a night out with friends, drinks, and clubs may have the same effect. One sounds healthier and more productive, but that’s the thing: what’s healthy or not is the mindset you approach it with. Not the one that will fit more cleanly in a series of Insta flicks (although, granted, both can look pretty aesthetic). Social media romanticizes our lives, with people posting the highlights of the lifestyle they so meticulously curate. It does not have to be your lifestyle either. Copying what everyone is doing online is not going to work for you. An individual lifestyle really works best for that individual.

The issue is the undertone of judgment. Someone who goes out and clubs on weekends is viewed as somehow not as “ideal” as someone who has impeccable 8 p.m. skincare routines, is sleeping 8 hours daily, and is at the gym bright and early at six am. One should not be viewed as less than the other; neither reflects the actual character and moral worth of the person. These lifestyle trends also come with the underlying tone that waking up early, meditating, journaling, exercising, cooking, and everything done before work is great, but doing it with zero break or pause and no room for balance is unattainable.

But Gen Z is obsessed with a grinding culture and productivity. And going clubbing certainly doesn’t seem productive. In a 2023 Harvard study, 56% of teens felt “game plan” pressure or “the feeling that they have to have their future path clear and set”. Gen Z has “chronic striving” with the downside of mental health challenges, the “task mask” look of looking as busy as possible, all of which can lead and will lead to burnout.

If you are forcing yourself to wake up at 5 a.m., do fasted cardio, get a matcha, chug a ginger shot to stabilize some micronutrient in your body that probably does not need stabilizing, and manage to get ahead on your work all before 7 a.m., that’s not healthy. If you skip out on going out with friends to get drinks because alcohol is the devil, don’t go clubbing because there are healthier things to do, or refuse to eat a full-fat pint of Ben and Jerry’s because you had a bad day, because it’s not productive enough or “well-ness worthy”, that’s not necessarily healthy in itself.

Social media lifestyle trends can cause comparison to unattainable standards, the focus on hyper-productivity can easily lead to burnout, they rely on external signifiers of success (early morning alarm, daily workout, healthy food), and are normally economically exclusive. As Hannah Tishman, psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, states: “Is that what you need to feel like the best version of yourself? For you, “What does it even mean to feel like the best version of yourself?”.

Additionally, social media is rife with wellness myths. Myths such as thin being synonymous with health (#skinnytok), detoxes and cleanses make you healthier (your body does not need cleanses, and they can actually harm you), eating before bedtime or after pm will make you gain weight (timing has much less of an effect than what is on your plate does), are some popular wellness myths that spread like wildfire on social media apps.

The point is that health and wellness look different for everyone. Every day can look different. That’s life. Why do we seem so opposed to doing both? Can’t we wake up early and be productive some days of the week, while drinking alcohol and desserts when going out with friends on the weekend, and do both?

A runner and a clubber. A fitness junkie and food enthusiast. Obviously, people who embody these two lifestyles exist, but they are not as “trending” or as central to social media as those who choose extremes. Balance just doesn’t seem to be as worthy of a trend. Deinfluencing as a reminder that some people live normal lives, where you wake up 7:00 AM, work a normal 9-5, sometimes two just to pay the bills, do a quick home workout because you do not have time or can not afford to buy a gym membership, microwave a frozen meal, can help to offload some pressure on certain deals and lifestyles.

Doing things for your health should not be something you do out of the sake of productivity culture. You should take care of your health, for you. Not for an aesthetic, not for the sake of attempting to live a lifestyle you saw on social media, and not because it seems more productive. Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do for yourself is wake up at 1:00 pm, do an assignment, eat some pizza, and go back to sleep. Productive? If that was what you could do in a day, then yes.

Positive influencers who can help with meal prep, guided meditation, and slowing down all exist and are great places to start for true wellness advice on social media. Finding influencers who move beyond an aesthetic and focus on how you truly feel and what you really want to do that works best for you is a much calmer starting space to approach social media by.

Taking care of your health is important. Taking care of it in a balanced and conscientious way, apart from the quick dopamine bursts scrolling provides, is even healthier. On a parting note, consider some parting words from Tishman: “Asking yourself the intention behind each of these morning activities can be a great way to slow down, increase mindfulness, and to identify which parts of your routine actually align with what feels good for you rather than what you think you should be doing.”

Everything comes down to intentionality, and why you are doing what you are doing. Sometimes, those are the scariest or trickiest questions to ask ourselves. But in an era of burnout, high stress, anxiety, and the Gen-Z mental health crisis, it is critical to question ourselves, or at least question the influencers whose content we are mindlessly consuming.

Now go enjoy a run, a nap, some salad, an ice cream, or whatever works best for you.

Cover Photo: A subsection of wellness influencers have long been drawn to conspiracy theories. Where once they focused their energy on pandemic misinformation, some are now latching onto climate change. (Leah Abucayan/CNN)