I’m Sick of Hustle Culture — Why Can’t We Be Slackers Anymore?

On missing the opportunity of a work-free future

All images by the author.

What the f*ck happened? Underachievement used to be cool.

Remember Bart Simpson? The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Bueller’s Day Off? Wayne’s World? Bill & Ted? The Big Lebowski?

The icons of the 1990s were slackers. The cool kids were the ones skateboarding, watching MTV, eating junk food, and smoking weed. Ross, the overachiever, was the lamest character of Friends.

We hung out, kicked soda cans down the street, listened to grunge, and wore ripped jeans because buying new ones was lame. We tried to stick it to the man and criticized people for selling out. We watched Fight Club and nodded throughout the movie.

Then, sometime during the last 15 years or so, capitalism went into overdrive. We had the rise of the nerds and influencers. We began to idolize workaholics like Elon Musk. We accepted being bombarded with a gazillion ads every freaking day. And this seems to have screwed up everything.

Now we got side hustles instead of hobbies, beauty filters instead of authenticity, followers instead of friends. It’s no longer okay to be an ordinary dude. You have to dream big, never give up, and make it. People brag about how much money they…