The other night I caught myself refreshing my emails at midnight, not because I was waiting on anything urgent, not because I had a deadline, just… because.
It’s like my brain has been wired to always check, always scroll, always do.
And this was when I realised I was on the verge of burn out. I was looking for my next thing to do because I knew that if I stopped I would struggle to start again.
There’s this unspoken rule in our culture that being switched on 24/7 is the gold standard.
Answer messages straight away, stay up to date on every trend, be reachable at all times.
But the reality? It’s exhausting. The constant buzz of notifications doesn’t make us more productive, it makes us more burnt out, we’ve traded rest for red dots on an app screen.
The Blur Between Work, Study & Life
As a student, the lines blur even more. Lectures, placements, part-time jobs, applications, side projects, social life, everything demands attention.
Free time stops feeling free, because it’s instantly filled with “catch up” tasks.
Even when you’re technically done for the day, your brain is still spinning with the to-do list. Suddenly, your downtime is less about recharging and more about trying to keep up.
I have endless lists on my phone’s notes app and reminders past due not because I have forgotten, but because it blurs together with the endless notifications of emails, messages and Shein (they’re the worst of the spam. note to self: turn them off)
We’ve convinced ourselves that staying constantly busy means we’re achieving something. But being “always on” doesn’t mean you’re doing anything meaningful.
Scrolling endlessly, answering emails instantly, or keeping up with every micro-trend feels like progress, but it’s often just noise. You can fill every moment with something and still feel empty.
The funny thing is, the rare times I’ve actually forced myself to slow down, I’ve noticed how much lighter I feel.
We’re not machines. And being productive every waking second doesn’t make us more valuable.
Switching off isn’t the same as falling behind, it’s actually a way to catch up with yourself.
To reset, to breathe, to remember that life isn’t meant to be lived in a constant state of notifications and noise.
So the next time I catch myself checking emails at midnight, I’m choosing to stop. Because “always on” doesn’t mean “always better.”
