In defense of rot
Amber Rhodes ??
call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me: [email protected] | content + copy + consulting
Do you bed rot, y/n?
In case you’re not up with the lingo, here’s what bed rotting means ??
It’s that thing where you just waste the day away doing low-lift activities like reading, scrolling, playing video games, or watching season 2 of Squid Game (have you watched yet?!).
Rotting = checking out mentally and physically.
Back in my day, I think we would have called this being a couch potato for a day. But rotting seems to take it one step further – it’s an intentional act to completely shutdown.
And this practice gained enough popularity with Gen Z and Millennials to gain a spot in Dictionary.com’s updated definitions for 2024.?
What’s behind the bed rot trend?
In short: PEOPLE. ARE. TIRED.
Sorry…not just tired…
Overstimulated.
Overextended.?
Overexposed.?
You know, burnt out.
Right now, we have access to more data than ever before – and it’s near-constant. If it’s not social media, it’s email. If it’s not email, it’s Slack or texts or Ring camera notifications or our smart watches telling us we haven’t moved around enough.
It’s mentally exhausting, and the act of bed rotting is used as an escape.?
So…is it bed rotting a bad thing?
Yes and no.?
At it’s core, bed rotting is a reaction to being overstimulated. It’s the desire to regain control of waves wildly all of this stuff we deal with every day.?
In a way, it’s just another form of self-care – like mental health days.?
(Also, we can’t leave out the discourse around work habits, capitalism, and the myth of laziness. But THAT’S a convo for a different post.)?
Some more important questions than “is bed rotting bad?” might be:?
So yes, rot away my friend! But please be careful that your self-care bed rot doesn’t turn into a self-destructive behavior.
Additional reading:
Hey! If you liked this Mental Health Breakdown, you're gonna love future issues that get published ?e?v?e?r?y? ?o?t?h?e?r? ?F?r?i?d?a?y? whenever I feel like it.
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Talks about content, immigration, and wine too much | Executive Editor, The CMO Club | Host & Managing Editor, The Newcomers
1 个月Finally. LFG
Internet hiatus (??_?) ?
1 个月I don't like the term 'bed rot' because rot in itself implies a disintegration. I've certainly disintegrated at times and the bed became my little hidey hole away from the world. But it's also my hidey hole of recovery. I sometimes hibernate, not rot. The rot starts when the bathroom breaks are all that wake me.