#476: Are Modern People the Most Exhausted in History?

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2019

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People often complain about being tired and burnt out these days from work and family responsibilities. We think it’s because of the way technology has sped up the pace of life, and the way we’re always “on,” and figure we’re living in the most exhausting age in history. But are we really? My guest today argues that, no, people have been complaining about being tired since at least antiquity. Her name is Anna Schaffner and she’s written a book called Exhaustion: A History, which traces the fascinating evolution of physical, psychological, and existential fatigue from the ancient Greeks to the modern day. Today she takes us on this tour, and as we move from age to age, we dig into how exhaustion has changed as to how its described, whether we blame external or internal factors as its source, and how much we believe personal agency can control it. Get the show notes at aom.is/exhaustion.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:15.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.6	People off complain about being tired and burnout these days from work and family responsibilities.
0:22.6	We think it's because of the way technology has sped out the pace of life and the way
0:25.6	we're always on and figure we're living in the most exhausting age and history.
0:29.6	So are we really?
0:30.6	I guess I always know people have been complaining about being tired since at least antiquity.
0:34.3	Her name is Anna Schaffner and she's written a book called Exhaustion in History, which
0:37.8	traces the fascinating evolution of physical, psychological and existential fatigue from
0:41.8	the ancient Greeks to the modern Dave.
0:43.5	Today she takes us on this tour and as we move from age to age we dig into how exhaustion
0:47.5	has changed as to how it's described, whether we blame external or internal factors as
0:51.9	its source and how much we believe personal and agency can control it.
0:55.2	The show's over, check out the show notes at awim.is slash exhaustion.
0:59.5	Anna joins you now via Skype.
1:02.2	Alright, Anna, Katharina Schaffner, welcome to the show.
1:11.8	Hi, welcome.
1:12.8	Thank you for having me on your program.
1:15.6	So you wrote a book called Exhaustion, a history.
1:19.7	I'm curious.
1:20.7	This is an interesting topic to delve into the history of exhaustion.
1:24.6	So what got you looking into that?
	...

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