Can't Even
How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
An incendiary examination of burnout - what got us here, the pressures that sustain it and the need for drastic change
Are you tired, stressed and trying your best but somehow it's never enough?
Does your job seep into your evenings and your home life creep into your work?
Does the bottom half of your To Do list feel unreachable?
This is burnout and it is affecting how we work, parent, socialise and live.
Through her own experience, original interviews and detailed analysis, Anne Helen Petersen traces the institutional and generational causes of burnout. And, in doing so, she helps us to let go of our guilt and imagine a possible future.
'Genuinely enlightening... Can't Even is a reminder to the burned out generation that things can be different' Observer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
BuzzFeed writer Peterson (Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud) explores how low-paying jobs, overstimulation, and unattainable expectations have contributed to millennial malaise in this trenchant and well-researched account. Young people who once received participation trophies now seek "cool" jobs, Petersen writes, only to fall into the "trap" of long hours and inadequate pay. Though older generations mischaracterize America's largest demographic group as lazy and selfish, millennials are actually working multiple jobs to pay bills in the modern gig economy as they watch the American dream slip away, Petersen contends. She weaves together personal reflections, profiles of other millennials, and a plethora of demographic information to addresses issues such as parenting, social media, college debt, and health care. Though she recommends finding "solace" in hobbies and notes that one family reduced their stress by moving from the East Coast to Idaho, Petersen is more focused on bluntly describing her generation's many obstacles than offering solutions to burnout. By turns exasperated, indignant, and empathetic, she supports her claims with strong evidence and calls on millennials to be a force for widespread social change. The result is an incisive portrait of a generation primed for revolt.
