Culture

In Defence Of The 9-5 TikTok Girl

by Ky Stewart  27 October 2023
9-5 tiktok girl dolly parton movie

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Another day, another dollar. That’s the saying, right? But what if I don’t want to work another day or be expected to work without any proper work-life balance? That’s how a lot of us are feeling at the moment, especially one girl on TikTok, who is having a tough time coping with the 9-5 work culture. She’s speaking directly into my soul. 

I’m glad to see Brielle talk about 9-5 work culture, making herself vulnerable enough to show how bad this whole system is for our wellbeing. It leaves little room for any of us to do anything besides eat and sleep. The 9-5 is just one aspect of it though. The entire work system is a breakdown that I have frequently. When Sunday comes around and I’m staring down the barrel of a five-day work week I feel somewhat hopeless. It’s like I’ve wasted my weekend if I didn’t go out but if I went out I’m unprepared for the work week. Two days is not enough time to have to myself and recover from the week. Even during the work week I barely have the energy to cook dinner let alone go out and see my friends. There’s absolutely no possible way to get a healthy work/life balance when you work 9-5, five days a week. I feel like I’m living to work, not working to live. 

It’s heartening to know that I’m not alone in feeling trapped in this hamster wheel. It’s an isolating experience. We grow up watching our parents work 9-5 and when we reach that point it’s hard to figure out how to fit our life inside this structure. We have so many expectations to live our best lives, to make relationships and build friendships but to also save money to travel and see the world or buy a house or whatever people used to be able to do. The only problem is that we can’t do any of that without having to work. And if you do work, you might just be scraping by, barely able to afford rent or groceries. 

Of course, having to work isn’t the issue here. Yes, I would love to just be a little garden gnome with no responsibilities but that’ll never happen. The problem is the way our work lives have been set up. Late stage capitalism has embedded the 9-5 five day work week culture into our brains and made us believe that’s the only way to live. It doesn’t help when our parents or people older than us look down on us and call us “weak” or “snowflakes”.

It’s ironic that the account name is called “Endthemisery”. My misery is a toxic work system, so now what? 

It’s been interesting to see how people on the internet have reacted to Brielle’s video. Some called out those who were trying to bully her and others noted the different reactions people were having because she’s a girl complaining about work. 

It won’t stay like this forever though. Ground has already been made on the four-day work week. Overseas, 91 percent of companies that trialled the structure will stick to it. The studies also found that there was a productivity and business performance rating of 7.5/10. Even revenue rose by 35 percent. Australia has started similar trials and have found similar successes. 

I still long to be able to not work at all, but I’ll settle for a four-day work week. For now. 

Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.

Image: 20th Century Studios