Is it actually worse?

Declinism is a generalized tendency to believe that things are getting worse over time.

For example, in July 2023, The Atlantic published a short piece about how America’s obsession with long hours is destroying churchgoing, which frays interpersonal ties, which disrupts communities, which, give-a-mouse-a-cookie style, will probably destroy America or something. But we’ve heard that song before (remember Bowling Alone?) We’ve been hearing it since 1929 at least. We’ve been hearing that Boston isn’t what it used to be since Ben Franklin complained that the taverns were better before independence. We’ve been hearing that Kids These Days Are Lazy since ancient Greeks lamented youth were just writing things down instead of memorizing the great epics. But of course, while churchgoing is on the downswing, other forms of involvement are up. We’re not bowling in formal leagues anymore, but Strava users know each other well enough.

But as much as that pessimism was misplaced last time, we always worry. We ask ourselves, well, are things getting worse this time? Are we working too much? Is the latest social media or structural change or trend fraying our communities?

The latest buzzwords in my feeds are polyworking and overemployment, and although the you must work very hard all the time doing as many things as possible theme isn’t new, it’s certainly showing its face in a new style.

Some people, of course, love the whole thing, laughing all the way to the dual-income-one-person bank. There are anecdotes of clever software engineers pulling in two or even three six-figure salaries at once. And why shouldn’t they? Your bosses pay you as little as possible for the most work they can squeeze out of you. Why shouldn’t you work as little as possible for the most money you can squeeze out of them?

When the Teamsters do it, it’s a punchline, but that punchline is basically just clever PR by Pinkertons and their ilk. “Labor unions = lazy workers” is one of the most successful, most malevolent memes in America, even more than auto companies inventing the concept of jaywalking to reserve public streets for their customers rather than the general public.

Substacker Kyle Fitzpatrick sketches out the trend as he sees it today:

In the 2000s, when I first started working, you could just have one job and survive. In the 2010s, you could have one job and a fun, goal-related little something on the side that you hoped became the thing. Now? You have a job and a side-hustle but also another job and none of those ladder into your goals so you still have to keep doing them all despite none of them really being fulfilling. Did I mention you’re doing this while freelance, without set health care or other corporate amenities like holidays?

Anyone in this position knows this isn’t anything new, just that the noise… is getting louder.

The concern here is that creative workers in particular find themselves needing to both do their jobs and spend a great deal of time and energy becoming, essentially, professional influencers selling themselves. It’s not merely enough to be good at something, in other words, you also have to be good at marketing yourself for it.

And to a certain extent I feel that thrum of anxiety myself. I’ve got my main freelance assignment (no benefits, no PTO, but flexible) plus my two or three side hustles, plus my volunteering and my unpaid writing. All of that is both work and a sort of meta-work: marketing and managing my reputation for being good at this sort of intellectual work. And there’s an awful lot of it. An overwhelming amount of it, sometimes.

On the other hand, it’s worth remembering that mandatory polywork may be a new trend for white-collar workers like Kyle and me, but it isn’t at all new for others. And more importantly, being good at something, whether that’s being a village blacksmith or a leading subject matter expert, has always been subtly different from being known to be good at it, and successful people have always had to be both. It’s always been necessary be both good and known to be good, to be both just and seen to be just.

I catch myself doom-mongering about this a lot, I’m afraid, and have to force myself to take a step back. I have to remember I’ve got it way easier than most people in America today, that most people in America today have it way easier than the rest of the world, and that the rest of the world has it way easier than they did fifty or a hundred years ago. I don’t risk being maimed by my job, I don’t get forced to do unpaid overtime, I don’t even commute. I’ve been unemployed and under-employed, and the situation I’m in is far, far better. Hell, it’s far better than certain full-employee I’m-a-real-boy jobs I’ve had. I chose this. I continue to choose it.

I wouldn’t necessarily advocate that everyone choose this multiple-hustles life, and making it mandatory for everyone would be truly horrific. But it’s working for me, for now. I know I’ve got it pretty good, is what I’m saying.

Or at least, it could always get worse.

Joy

• Cute dog in jacket
• Dog photography award winners
• Swipe through the photos for the entire scene. Or don’t. It happens exactly as you would expect when you begin with the idea “let’s bring the dog in the canoe.”