Do you spend your days lying unproductively in bed? Do you feel bad when you do?

Well, thanks to TikTok's bed rotting trend which has over 300 million views, you no longer have to!

TIME Magazine reports,

"Burnout is steadily rising worldwide...Some deal with their stress and exhaustion by binge-watching Netflix shows, hitting the gym, meditating, or crafting. As for others? They try bed rotting. The Tiktok trend is (usually) less repulsive than it sounds; it simply involves spending the entire day in bed relaxing, or “rotting away,” as a way to decompress from life’s stressors."

Of course, everyone needs to have their days where they do nothing but rest, or bed rot. In our social media dominated culture where this influencer has this five step skincare routine and someone else has a two hour meal prep session every afternoon, it can be tempting to feel inadequate taking some time to rest when you're off work or class.

And you shouldn't! Resting is healthy to do, and sleeping itself has various benefits such as improved concentration, better memory, and heightened emotional states.

But bed-rotting becoming trendy? Is this a step too far in the other direction?

Romanticizing Depression?

The time in my life as a teenager where I was primarily "bed-rotting" was not when my mental health was at its peak.

In fact, I'd wager the exact opposite. The period where I had no motivation to take a shower, do my homework, or do anything that did not involve sleeping my days away was when my mental health was at its lowest. Eventually, I came to see that this was not a productive way of life and put myself back together, but what if I, or someone else in a matching situation came across this "trend"?

What if instead of scrolling through Youtube watching music videos or blogs, we went on TikTok and came across the echo chamber of fellow bed-rotters telling us "there's nothing wrong with relaxing", or "you earned this"? Rather than getting up and bringing productivity back into our lives, would we instead have felt vindicated in our slothfulness, and dug our heels in?

This is the problem with certain social media trends. They turn into echo chambers, and voices validating each other are the only ones still heard, contenders getting drowned out. You like one video of a woman who shares her happy week of bed rotting, and suddenly twenty more sharing her experience are on the "for you" page.

It's easy to convince yourself you're engaging in self-care and there's nothing wrong if everyone else is saying it too.

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

As I stated earlier, yes, we all need days where bed-rotting is the only item on the to do list. But when it becomes the next hot trend, and a depressed teenager who has been spending too much time in their bedroom comes across thousands of TikTok users doing the same thing (and maybe uploads their own) a harmful camaraderie can start to form.

Teenagers are very impressionable. Most are followers, not leaders. What will motivate the downtrodden teenager to get out of bed and assemble back the puzzle of their life if no one else is doing the same?

What teenager doesn't long to follow the crowd? What teenager won't be excited to learn they already are?

Not many. And that's the issue with framing an activity as self-care that very well may be the result of depression or other mental health struggles.

Social media trends typically do not have room for nuance. And the bed-rotting trend would not be as fun and catchy if a disclaimer was attached to each video. But if a trend like this can so easily be misinterpreted or potentially romanticized when it shouldn't be, maybe it's not the ideal trend to take center stage.

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The Flip Side

On the other hand, this trend (while perhaps not the healthiest example) reveals something positive about Gen Z compared to other generations. This is the willingness to talk openly about taking care of one's mental health, a topic which despite significant progress made throughout the years, still has a stigma attached. Gen Z is learning to express our mental health needs transparently, and honestly state: "I'm burnt out right now, and I need to take a step back".

Meanwhile our grandparents' and even our parents' generation took things such as burnout to be a badge of honor, a symbol of hard work. Perhaps a joke or two was cracked on occasion about being married to the workplace, but seventy hour work weeks were met with praise over one's dedication to a job rather than sympathy and encouragement to take a step back if needed.

Gen Z on the other hand? We recognize the importance of a work-life or school-life balance, of working in an environment that respects and values our time and autonomy outside of it. According to a survey by Deliotte, an astonishing 49% of Gen Zers would quit their jobs in two years if they felt work-life balance was lacking (or the business's values were unsatisfactory).

Of course, due to the bed-rotting trend and others of its flavor, there has been concern over whether our generation has taken mental health awareness "too far". But despite my reluctance to embrace the bed-rotting trend, I do believe it is preferable to be overzealous at times regarding mental wellness rather than ignoring it completely.

Plus, I believe the pendulum will settle in the middle eventually. It usually always does.