The illusion of weekends - We are just in recovery mode :/

I've been working for about five years now. The concept of a weekend has completely changed for me in 2024. But there's something about our current lifestyle that just concerns me. In both tech and non-tech roles.

In college or even early in my career, I remember weekends actually feeling like free time. Going out, meeting friends, pursuing a hobby, or just existing without stress.

You lived for 2 days, then worked for 5. And thought about work only when you logged in.

Now, I feel like most of us don't actually have weekends anymore. It's very obviously just a 48-hour recovery period so we don't physically collapse on Monday.

We end up spending Friday night just passing out from sheer exhaustion. Saturday goes into sleeping for 10 hours and doing basic life maintenance. Groceries, laundry, cleaning up the house.

By Sunday afternoon, the anxiety starts creeping in. You can't even enjoy the evening because your brain is already dreading the morning standup at work.

Work intensity has gone up. Personal energy has fallen.

We need to be more mindful of our boundaries, we need to actually disconnect on Friday, and then live well at home.

I think it's a function of the insane mental load we carry everyday. We are basically in zombie mode for two days just trying to repair our nervous system to do it all over again.

Needs to be fixed, it's the sign of a major burnout epidemic in the workforce. Thoughts?