Is ‘bed rotting’ self-care or self-deprecation?

The latest wellness trend on TikTok caters to burnt-out Gen Zers, encouraging them to escape the demands of daily life by spending extended periods of time under the covers and emerging only when they feel properly rested. At first glance, there’s likely a lot of good that can come from this, but critics are concerned about the potential consequences of young people staying sedentary.

2022 was the year we embraced chaos. Still reeling from the pandemic, we zealously entered an age of total surrender, ferality, nihilism, liberation, and delusion; so much so, in fact, that Oxford Dictionaries’ ‘most popular’ word choice was ‘goblin mode.’

Following us into the present day, this change in tune has seen a substantial majority of us distance ourselves further from the self-improvement movement that’s had social media in a chokehold since hustle culture began dominating our feeds.

And as we prepare to ring in 2024 (crikey is it that time already?!) the conversation surrounding why we so eagerly continue to worship at the altar of busyness when we know it’s doing us…