Negative aspects

While he said there are benefits of having a community on social media sharing productivity-related content, Bhatia said it can often be “staged” and “unrealistic.” He said while many influencers do not live an idealistic lifestyle, social media can show otherwise.

“It’s impossible to lead a perfect life,” he said. “Although, obviously, nobody who makes these kinds of videos does, they certainly kind of present it in a way or that kind of reports that they do.”

Likewise, Cruz said the abundance of productivity content perpetuates insecurity when comparing themselves to others on platforms, even while the community emphasizes the importance of being yourself.

“When you… send a picture of like, ‘Oh, this is how I did this,’ you’re giving like a model for whoever’s looking at it,” she said. “If the person that’s looking at it doesn’t meet that model, or live up to that standard, then they feel like ‘Oh, I didn’t do that well.’”

Cruz said social media puts pressure on teenagers to fit a mold, and thus, she said “everybody needs to find their own way.”

Abd Saddic said many influencers spread the message that “the harder you work or the longer you work, the more you’ll receive.” However, he said working harder does not necessarily yield better results given that people can take different amounts of time to complete tasks.

“Maybe it is the case that you know you’ve worked 10 hours and you feel like you’ve worked harder and you feel like you’ve worked on it,” he said. “But it could be that the person who has worked two [hours] is really successful.”