How to care less about work

Americans work too much, and many are overwhelmed and exhausted as a result. But the professional treadmill needn’t always be racing, Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen write. Their radically simple solution? Care less about your job. In today’s newsletter, I’ve compiled Atlantic stories about the past and present of America’s (over)work culture, and how to reclaim your time.

• “How to Care Less About Work ,” by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen. As we peer around the corner of the pandemic, let’s talk about what we want to do—and not do—with the rest of our lives.
• “The Secret to Work-Life Balance: Less Work ,” by Jenny Anderson and Quartz. Compared with moms who work full-time, those who work part-time feel more in control.
• “The Religion of Workism Is Making Americans Miserable ,” by Derek Thompson. For the college-educated elite, work has morphed into a religious identity—promising transcendence and community, but failing to deliver.
• “Why Do Americans Work So Much? ,” by Rebecca J. Rosen. The economist John Maynard Keynes predicted a society so prosperous that people would hardly have to work. But that isn’t exactly how things have played out.
• “A Society That Can’t Get Enough of Work ,” by Lily Meyer. A satirical 1883 pamphlet about workers who won’t quit has eerie resonance today.

Thanks for reading!

— Kelli María Korducki

Last Word

“Why do we think writing essays and papers are needed to demonstrate knowledge? Educators will need to innovate and find new ways to measure and assess learning. (This was created using GPT3) ??”?— M. Antonio Vance, responding on LinkedIn to “ChatGPT will end high-school English .”

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