Why do we always have to seem busy?

Have you ever caught yourself posting an image on social media to showcase how busy you are? Especially with Instagram stories this becomes a common thread. A quick snap to boost your self esteem that you are doing something right now. But why do we feel the need to document and share these images at all? Is there any purpose in them?

This issue has its roots far deeper in the norms that society imposes onto us. We have to be working and a beneficial part of the society at all times. There simply seems to be no room left for being under the radar, because if you’re busy and working hard and nobody even sees or notices it, are you even busy at all? You may sense now the irony in this whole flawed way of thinking. In the end this all has to do with acquiring a notice of feeling superior to others, who seem to be less hard working people than you are. Of course this is assumption is wrong. Just because you don’t see that people are doing their everything, doesn’t mean that they don’t. I would take it even further to propose that the people, very generally speaking with no proof, who share and constantly stress how hard of a worker they are, do less or not more than the ones who do their work quietly. This though comes from thinking about all of the time and energy used by people bragging about their work ethics and comparing this to the quiet worker, who can direct these efforts to something that’s actually beneficial to him.

Are you now a bad person if you brag about your work ethics? Absolutely not, this is no the point I wanted to raise. Just maybe be reminded that this can lead to a misconception and that there is no need to constantly remind other people how hard you work, because don’t we all do that within our capacities and is this the only purpose of life? To be a hard worker? Isn’t it for example more important to be developing and working on yourself and how you’re treating others? Isn’t this really making you happy, or do you want to be part of a rat-race towards flawed ideals? Surely we all want to fulfill our potential. But is there only one right way to do it? Dedication, motivation and in the end hard work are very important indeed, but is constantly stressing how you personally are going about it beneficial for others and for whom you intended it to be? Or is one just trying to make oneself feel superior to all others by putting other people in a self imposed misery?

I hope you somehow enjoy these thoughts, they are mostly transcripts of things I have scribbled in my notebooks.