Unproductive
Posted on Friday, March 3, 2023
Last updated on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 5:23 PM
The term “unproductive” has garnered a significant negative connotation in recent history. It is often an ideological bludgeon used to denigrate and shame anyone who doesn’t feel obligated to become a cog in an industrial system, anyone who doesn’t wish to sacrifice their lives for a cause they don’t believe in, to deteriorate their mental or physical health in doing so, to waste away their one…
Unproductive
Posted on Friday, March 3, 2023
Last updated on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 5:23 PM
The term “unproductive” has garnered a significant negative connotation in recent history. It is often an ideological bludgeon used to denigrate and shame anyone who doesn’t feel obligated to become a cog in an industrial system, anyone who doesn’t wish to sacrifice their lives for a cause they don’t believe in, to deteriorate their mental or physical health in doing so, to waste away their one chance at life.
In a capitalist society, we’ve been wired to believe that producing, that more is inherently good. More resources, more products, more productivity, more money, more opportunity.
But at a certain point, we have to decide when something is enough. Nothing good in our lives keeps growing and growing. It is almost a universal rule that everything in our lives, whether a certain type of food, a certain type of work, a certain type of leisure activity, a certain type of relationship or friendship, requires balance.
The greatest paradox of our first-world society is that the people in it simultaneously recognize that while humans operate better by enough, capitalism operates better by more.
Posted on Friday, March 3, 2023
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Posted on Friday, March 3, 2023