When hustle becomes harm: mental health and India's overworked youth

In a world that demands constant productivity, the cost of keeping up is often invisible, until it becomes impossible to ignore.

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For young Indians today, hustle culture isn't just a lifestyle but a survival strategy in an uncertain world with growing unemployment. Behind the facade of ambition, deadlines, and curated success stories lies a quiet, growing crisis: the mental health of an entire generation.Coming of age amidst a pandemic, many young people began their professional lives in lockdown, interviewing for their first jobs over patchy Zoom calls, entering an economy struggling to stand on its feet. As the world rolls back to normal, there's always something erupting: war, layoffs, inflation, rising living costs.

For the economically vulnerable, the largest group of youth in India, the ability to find employment, feed their dreams, and succeed is becoming impossible. Young people throw themselves into work with an unspoken belief: Do more, and earn my way to security. This constant hustle, a work culture that thrives on exploiting youth, comes at a steep and deeply human cost. Hustle culture sells a dangerous dream: that success is solely a function of hard work, and rest is for the weak. Burnout isn't seen as a problem, it's worn like a badge of honour. Several CEOs in recent years have made headlines for glorifying overwork. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, sparked a national debate when he suggested young Indians should work 70 hours a week to improve national productivity. Elon Musk once said, “Nobody ever changed the world with 40 hours a week.” These statements, often delivered from places of enormous privilege, ignore a basic truth: most people are already working far beyond what is healthy.