Society as a whole needs to stop glamorizing things that aren’t meant to be glamorized. Some of it might be painless, and other things might actually cause physical harm. For the past while, I’ve collected my thoughts on this matter and will demonstrate it through multiple examples.

Studying

Studying is meant to be something that you have to do, not something that you want to do. Yes, there is something to making sure you’re comfortable for a lengthy study session, but let’s not go overboard with it. I hate to break it to you, but no, your camel milk matcha latte, iPad Pro with keyboard, stacks of books with neatly organized index cards, “aesthetic” Notion boards, and fancy library settings will not get you higher grades! In fact, it might actually result in lower grades because of all the time you’re spending on doing all this extraneous stuff to make it look like you’re “lost in study” when really, you’re nothing more than stuck at the surface level.

Now for a small sidetrack about the word “aesthetic”

The word “aesthetic” has lost all of its meaning and it really makes me angry. It used to be a word that was modified by an adjective like “oh, this room has such a chill aesthetic to it.” But in today’s world, it’s taken on a whole different meaning. I blame it on TikTok and their glamorization of everything, to be honest. Now, the meaning of aesthetic has changed to an adjective itself. You’ll hear sentences like “oh, my Notion board is so aesthetic.” What does that even mean? What kind of aesthetic?

In fact, I looked up “aesthetic studying” on Google Images, and the image you see above came up. This is what I mean. I hate it.

Burnout

Burnout is not something you should be aspiring for. Yes, it will become necessary sometimes to work extra hard to get something done in time, but you should be resting for an equivalent amount of time afterward to make up for it! You shouldn’t be bragging to others about how you worked so hard you sacrificed your mental and physical well-being to get something done. I bet others would be more impressed when you’re on vacation relaxing because you got the work done in a timely manner while they’re in crunch mode trying to rush to finish it. Just a thought.

The UV Index

Finally, the reason I decided to write this article. I came across one too many TikToks of women talking about how much they love their high UV indices. Little do they know (or possibly they do know) that the UV index is a rating of how intense the sun’s radiation is. Higher UV indices mean you have a higher chance of getting radiation poisoning from the sun.

Let’s put this in a different context. Let’s say we’re taking a trip to Chernobyl. I’m gonna make up an index that reports how intense the radioactivity of the site is on a given day (let’s call it the CH Index).

I’m almost certain the same women who gush at the sight of a UV index over 7 would scream at the sight of a CH index at an equivalent level. Why the difference? Because the UV rays from the sun come with being tan. That’s literally the only difference. You’re still running a very high risk of radiation poisoning and skin cancer. Both of which are no joke.

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Save yourself the trouble. Don’t glamorize these things. For your own safety.

Wear some sunblock.