For my Critical Analysis Essay, I will discuss the unworthiness of the typical forty hour work week articulated by several sources. Each cite and I sympathize with the modern “revolution” of non-desk jobs to debunk capitalism, and inspire an era of self-fulfilling careers . These arguments advocate against the normalcy, expectancy, and obligation of the extremely common 9-5 workstyle. With these polemics, the creators of the media sources and I hope to strongly urge ‘generation Z’, creatives, neurodivergents, millennials, and any other human who wishes to lead a self fulfilling life to begin questioning the worthiness of the 9-5 in its actuality. Through examination of what a 9-5 realistically entails, its achievements and finally how in the end, it is rarely rewarding due to the corruption of capitalism and Americanism. If the viewers of the cited youtube video are presumably currently 9-5 workers, Chang’s message could inspire them to tackle new possibilities in the realms of freelance, entrepreneurship, influencership, labor, or even government work. Chang vouches for anything that is outside the 9-5 with hope to instill in his viewers that there shouldn’t have to be a fixated way to acquire an income. By communicating options for a career in an encouraging and unrestrictive tone, it boosts the viewer’s idea to quit their tedious job without feeling too uncertain or uneasy.
When it comes to work outside of corporate life, comparatively what I’ve seen is that non-desk jobs are often more voluntary fields of occupation. Meaning, the tasks done behind these occupations are often performed by people who are passionate and take initiative towards the matter of how they spend what is often more than forty hours of their week. They choose a career path that caters towards their skill and interests, so effectiveness is expected and feasibly guaranteed. Someone who works a typical 9-5 job is likely less passionate, and even more likely idle about their contributions to the world of business and society compared to someone who spends their afternoons in a more hands-on, flexible, and independent environment. Jobs that are less quiet and allow workers to choose their own schedule, often require more attentive critical thinkers, thus, more capable people.
What one should understand about the argument made above is that not every person is built for corporate careers, and on the other side of the coin, not everyone is built for career independence. Even if I agree that someone pursuing a desk job (or not) can be due to personal preference, if I state “It’s not for everyone”, what that means is that there is a significant portion of adults who struggle with mental health and ADHD, some to a significant degree. For this division of people, an eight hour workweek with only about an hour of time to eat and resettle each day is a surefire way to damage an average, recurring day. This method produces burnout and fatigue, bringing down levels of serotonin and productivity.
In one other article called 5 Reasons Why the 9-5 Job No Longer Makes Sense, author Anum Yoom discusses the 9-5 job’s outdatedness as well as its confusing operation. She and I both agree and preach the idea that a 9-5 is an invariable way to have employees feel as if their daily work is dry and depressing, bringing down any percentages of productivity. Yoon begins her argument strongly, without any unsupported opinions. Facts are often attention grabbers, and Yoon wisely uses history to hook the reader into something indisputable. She continues the argument about how the 9-5 was created because of organized labor and unions only slightly over a century ago. It’s a misguided practice which still stands to further her main point about how corporate life is essentially an outdated tradition .
The creator of the previously referenced youtube video, Charlie Chang, quotes “No amount of money ever bought a second of time”. I interpret this as while working in any field besides possibly online-influencing, to acquire an income means one must sacrifice a great deal of time. However the whole ‘forty hours a week’ is a span of time that is socially constructed and practiced for only a century because of Labor laws. Charlie Chang argues applicably to my own following example: not only will working very long repetitive hours leave one feeling bored, but humans are social creatures who are built for endurance movement, not sitting fixed in a cubicle. I agree completely, believing that people should experience and direct their own lives without slaving away their sanity in a tedious space and setting. It’s a pondering thought, are we as humans really meant to spend more than half our lives working monotonous jobs rather than progressing our skill sets, critical thinking skills, and creativity?
In one of the scholarly sources from Temple University, a writer named Ben Angel titles his book as Flee nine to five, get six to seven figures and do what you love. While he doesn’t give many suggestions as to what jobs exist outside of 9-5, Angel attempts to emphasize the importance of happiness, passion, and love. This is both something Yoon and Chang lacked in the articles they shared. What I gathered from this source is that someone who escaped the trap of a 9-5 makes a very good point for mental health. A point that many other influencers advise against or simply don’t mention. While this book spoke of how tedious the work was, it also advised readers on how to prioritize their well being. Often in other pieces I’ve read, mental health was only subtly implied yet never exclusively communicated. Here it is refreshing to see.
In another large portion of the video by Charlie Chang, he speaks of how due to capitalism, the phrase “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” becomes in effect. The 9-5 work-week hinders everyday people, as outlined above, and there are few paths one can take to improve their economic standing. This work week essentially prevents personal and economic progress. If an employee at a corporate company takes advantage of those eight hours, and is productive and hits all the bases; while they may potentially gain respect from their manager, ultimately it is the company as a whole and of course the CEO who in truth benefits from that efficiency. This is something Chang heavily puts a spotlight on, and where he debunks the myths of capitalism. The global conviction that is popular among those working in 9-5 jobs is that they’ve been sold to believe that sitting at a desk and pretending to like your boss is what will eventually lead to financial success or even wealth. I emphasize the point about the myths of capitalism here in how this is another reason why corporate careers no longer feel rewarding. It is because the product of an employee’s tasks is never traced back to the employee. It is only another dollar in the bucket of whoever is in charge. Chang tries to give background on why corporate hours were set to 40 in order to prove why that span of time being used as the standard is outdated. I see his attempts here are to inspire people with the introduction of new and modern possibilities that don’t fit the grid of “conventional” or so called “standard” positions.
The Financial Samurai, a scholarly news article hub, has an author named by the organization “Financial Samurai” who speaks of the corporate ladder and why it’s useless to climb. Career Or Family? You Only Need To Sacrifice For 5 Years At Most They say that ultimately a lot of adults who happen to have kids are unable to care for their children when they slave away for eight hours and an additional four for overtime. If that situation does occur, a child will not establish a bond during their psychological critical periods. This is ultimately harmful for future generations.
In the video, while going over why 9-5 jobs are unnecessarily taxing, Charlie Chang drops briefly about how in 2021, a big year in the digital age, 9-5 positions are either useless or simply outdated. Although I don’t entirely concur with the statement of 9-5 jobs being purposeless, I do believe the structure of them and how work is divided throughout a week is designed to burn out employees. The “work hard, play hard” mentality is an unhealthy way of manipulating and guilting everyday adults into slaving away and climbing the corporate ladder towards the lie that the harder your work, it’s a guarantee of success. While I still personally believe it is a virtue to dedicate time to work or complete projects, a lot of successful and more often than not wealthy people were born into fortune in every sense of the word. The few who weren’t are mainly just products of luck or people who took advantage of connections to bigger figures in global industries. I believe another method is growing in popularity towards how to become the lucky few. The method is to go “viral” and is now something an artist can scheme with precision. By studying social media algorithms, a person can simply pretend they never intended to “blow up” across media for when or even if they do. Charlie targets this argument of fruitless efforts to give context to a major and triggering line in the title of his video. Simply even inserting the words “Why you’ll never get rich” is a bold and scary sentence that can help give a wake to the people viewing. In hope that his words will be a source of painful but useful motivation, as that itself is what many corporate workers lack. In a way, Charlie offers viewers a “second chance” by persuading the audience that physical employers are no longer relevant players in the game of getting paid.
In one other media source, a youtube video titled “Charles Bukowski: The Slavery of the 9 to 5” Charles Bukowski: The Slavery of the 9 to 5 speaks of how slavery has taken on the new form of office/corprote careers. While The wording of that statement, specificlly the decision to compare slavery to desk jobs, is concerning, I undertsnad why he uses such language. An eyebrow raising remark is a way to grab attention from viewers, and even generate more comments to boost the video’s algorithm. The video continues with the narrator speaking of his own experience of being confused as an adolescent and even adult with why people would trade so much of their time, energy, and love for a career that leaves one feeling extremely depressed. While watching, I sympathize with that bewilderment, and offer to challenge people with the question as to why this standard of 40 hours a week is severely normalized. It doesn’t align well with the nature of how people operate, and creates an uneven balance of life and work, something we’ve been brainwashed to believe is unchangeable.
