The hustlers, the go-getters, the entrepreneurs, the grinders. These nouns have taken on a very positive connotation in this fast-paced age of technology. Everything is changing so quickly, you have to be one step ahead just to keep up. You have to grind to make things happen, you have to take that extra step in order to be successful. “There are way easier places to work, but nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week,” Elon Musk once tweeted about working in Tesla, putting into perspective the modern work culture.

Recently, one young woman fed up with this type of hustling culture has taken to Twitter to share a piece of her mind. In a now-viral thread, liked by almost half a million people, she’s questioning the “hustling culture” and is encouraging young people to reevaluate their choices when it comes to working. Scroll ahead to read the Twitter thread.

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Recently, one young woman took to Twitter to criticize the modern work culture

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But who does the new work culture, which Elon Musk is so keen on celebrating, reward? According to some experts, it’s definitely not us, the workers. If anything, the created narrative that a 40-hour workweek is for weaklings has originated from none other than the well-off people who already have big capital. So how does this person convince someone to work for them around the clock? They persuade them that it’s the only way to be successful. “As American business became more efficient, better at turning a profit, the next generation needed to be positioned to compete. We couldn’t just show up with a diploma and expect to get and keep a job that would allow us to retire at 55. In a marked shift from the generations before, millennials needed to optimize ourselves to be the very best workers possible,” journalist Anne Helen Petersen wrote in her think piece “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation.” Apparently, working relentlessly is the new glamour; being burned out is the new normal.

“I was work-obsessed until about a year ago, which was largely due to me growing up in poverty,” Treasure revealed to Bored Panda. “When I transferred to Harvard last fall, I became disillusioned. It’s a school that‘s seen as the pinnacle of success and yet even there, people face such intense insecurity and scarcity. Their rest, mental health, and last years of childhood had all been comprised in pursuit of a school that could really care less about them. I’ve had friends take time off, two even dropped out—some graduate and can’t find work. When you see people perform to capitalism’s expectations perfectly and still not end up fulfilled or secure, it moves you to redefine success for yourself—or at least that’s what I chose to do,” the Harvard student continued.

When asked whether she ever felt the pressure to outperform others to succeed, Treasure told us she did. “For my entire life up until recently,” the young woman explained. “Growing up in poverty led me to believe there wasn’t enough to go around, because if there had been, I wouldn’t have struggled the way I did. I realize now there are more than enough opportunities and resources for us all. That mentality is intentionally fed to low-income people to keep us from banding together and creating self-sufficient communities,” the young woman told Bored Panda.

Her thoughtful thread has amassed almost half a million likes in just few days

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Image credits: treasurefbrooks

Speaking of her experience, Treasure revealed that when she and her friends began to take their careers seriously, their relationships were complicated “by the anxiety of feeling under-accomplished.” Treasure explained that she lost people she cared deeply about due to envy and hyper-competitiveness that crept in. “Those falling-outs led me to reprioritize nurturing, collaborative personal relationships,” she added.

“We all do better when we all do better”

“I think academia is largely to blame for my generation’s work obsession,” Treasure pointed out to Bored Panda. “Our educational system isn’t very humane and grooms young people to assess their worth based solely on their productivity—not creativity or emotional intelligence. By the time we enter the workforce, we have already internalized and normalized unhealthy work habits. It becomes even easier to justify your chronic exhaustion and misery because of the financial incentive.”

Talking about the obsession with career, Treasure added that she believes it may also be culturally influenced. “People outside of America experience the pressures of capitalism as well, but their responses aren’t the same. Individualism is deeply ingrained in the western culture so when we’re faced with the task of survival, our default is to do things alone,” she explained to Bored Panda. “Other cultures tend to be more invested in collective care as a survival mechanism. I understand that people adopt narcissistic work habits as a trauma response to capitalism, but that doesn’t make it excusable. We can look at other countries whose cultural values differ and see that there is more than one way to survive. We all do better when we all do better.”

Before wrapping up our interview, we asked Treasure to share what success means to her personally. “Peace, connection, and pleasure are the measures of my success,” the cultural critic told us. “I only aspire to be content with who I am and more connected to the people and world around me. I don’t let the fear of being in poverty motivate how I choose to live; The reality is that a single accident or recession can completely destabilize our finances in an instant so you might as well live for whatever fleeting moments of joy you can grab. Joy and connection can’t be revoked.”

Many agreed with the thread

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