Work-life balance & rage bait
What the media can teach us about interpersonal communication
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Business Insider dropped some rage bait the other day: “Jeff Bezos says work-life balance is a 'debilitating phrase,' and that work and life are actually a circle.”
I think everyone’s first reaction ranged somewhere between “I love it when a billionaire tells me how to be happy” to “F this guy.”
But I did something I never do: I actually read the article. (Here.)
There’s 3 things I found interesting:
1. The media takes quotes from 2016, 2018 and 2020 and packages them as “news” in 2024. Because there’s nothing else happening in the world *right now* that requires attention.
2. If you dig into what he means by work and life being a circle: he’s 100% right.
If you hate your job, it’s going to weigh on you at home. If you’ve got problems at home, you’re going to bring that to work with you as well.
Humans are generally terrible at compartmentalizing their emotions. What he’s really saying is no amount of carving out time boundaries (which is what we mostly associate with work-life balance) is going to make you happy if one or the other sucks.
He’s not saying there shouldn’t be boundaries around work & life – he’s just saying that in itself isn’t a fix.
3. Using one dumb word can undercut your entire message. In this case: “debilitating.”
Clickbait sells. That’s why Business Insider did it. He said one dumb word in 2018 and 6 years later it’s making headlines.
But the same concept applies to interpersonal and company communications. You can deliver an overall positive message to your coworkers or your team, but sprinkling in one negative word by accident, and everyone thinks you’re an asshole.
Tldr: Word choice matters & working less hours at a job you hate won’t make you any happier.
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