The Burnout Society

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From a malaise of boredom – driven to distraction by hyperattention – brews a society of tiredness; exhausted and apa

This theme is explored in detail in The Burnout Society , a short work dating from 2010. Han begins by introducing the idea of a society based on the language of immunology, with life revolving around the self and others, the familiar and the alien. What this meant is that in politics and society people acted very much as our bodies do when an infection is detected, isolating and annihilating the threat; as a result, anything not forming part of the whole is automatically part of this threat (here Han gives the example of Cold War rhetoric). You’ll note the use of the past tense here, and this is because the writer believes that this was a 20th-century concept and that we’ve moved on (to which I can only say Trump, Brexit, refugees on Manus Island … ).

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Q. Some fear that the Internet of Things could one day mean that objects will rebel against human beings. Gute Unterhaltung: Eine Dekonstruktion der abendländischen Passionsgeschichte. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2017. ISBN 978-3957572752 Spanish edition: Ausencia. Acerca de la cultura y la filosofía del Lejano Oriente. Caja Negra Editora, 2019, ISBN 9789871622726. Viral violence cannot account for neuronal illnesses such as depression, ADHD, or burnout syndrome, for it follows the immunological scheme of inside and outside, Own and Other; it presumes the existence of singularity or alterity which is hostile to the system. Neuronal violence does not proceed from system-foreign negativity. Instead, it is systemic—that is, system-immanent—violence. Depression, ADHD, and burnout syndrome point to excess positivity. Burnout syndrome occurs when the ego overheats, which follows from too much of the Same. The hyper in hyperactivity is not an immunological category. It represents the massification of the positive. Notes

From a malaise of boredom – driven to distraction by hyperattention – brews a society of tiredness; exhausted and apathetic. Currently, self-demand prevents us from enjoying ourselves because we’re more focused on producing than resting. The burnout society Similarly to how the gig economy has become prominent, replacing previously stable social relations with scattered and temporary relations which are installed ad hoc, so has our attention scattered. Deep contemplation and boredom have become nearly impossible in our age of hyperstimulation. Everything which was considered solid is slowly melting, decaying leaving behind only fragmentary connections that disappear at an accelerating rate. Even religion which grounded people in a strong narrative has loosened its grip.Q. You have described how work is becoming more like a game, and social media, paradoxically, makes us feel freer. Capitalism seduces us. Has the system managed to dominate us in a way that is actually pleasing to us?

The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017) ISBN 1509516050 What is uncanny about Covid-19 is that those who catch it suffer from extreme tiredness and fatigue. The illness seems to simulate fundamental tiredness. And there are more and more reports of patients who have recovered but are continuing to suffer severe long-term symptoms, one of which is “chronic fatigue syndrome.” The expression “the batteries no longer charge” describes it very well. Those affected are no longer able to work and perform. They have to exert themselves just to pour a glass of water. When walking, they have to make frequent stops to catch their breath. They feel like the living dead. One patient reports: “It actually feels as if the mobile were only 4 percent charged, and you really only have 4 percent for the whole day, and it cannot be recharged.” Absence: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far East (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2023) ISBN 9781509546206 Call for Papers: The Itinerant Shrine: Art, History, and the Multiple Geographies of the Holy House of Loreto Prioritize silence and rest in your daily routine. Stop perceiving these spaces as something negative, On the contrary, understand that boredom and reflection are necessary for creativity and well-being to flourish.Heidegger’s thinking also displays immunological traits. Thus, he decidedly rejects the Identical, to which he opposes the Same. In contrast to the Identical, the Same possesses interiority, which is the basis for every immunoreaction. Han brings Foucault’s concept of “society of disciplinarity” to compare with the actual society. The thought is that the 21st century has become a “ performance society.” Individuals no longer submit themselves to disciplinary institutions and appear as entrepreneurs of their own or “performance subjects” and production. I am irrational too. I earned a middle-class salary as a tenured college professor but became increasingly exhausted by and frustrated with the work. Eventually, I quit. Even though teaching played a leading role in my burnout, I felt so aimless without it that, less than two years later, I became a part-time adjunct instructor making just a few thousand dollars a course, a fraction of what I had made before. I needed structure in my days. I needed to exercise my hard-won pedagogical skills. Above all, I needed someone to count on me to show up and do a decent job.