Why We’re Cooked: First-World Advice, Third-World Reality

This is an issue I've been observing lately. It actually stemmed from my own experience, and I sort of viewed it from the outside, and I realised, "oh god, this is with everyone." But what am I talking about exactly?

I've watched a fuck ton of self-help content. I gradually became interested in Andrew Huberman, Lex Fridman, Chris Williamson, and Naval Ravikant (he's an exception, though), and the list goes on and on. On the other hand, I've gone to Cal Newport, Matt D’Avella, Dry Creek Wrangler School, who knows, these are some I can name off the top of my head, but there are a lot of these people.

When I hear their advice, the optimised life, the successful life, the slow life, productivity, keep your phones away, shut off work at a fixed time and say "fuck off" to people, go for 7 to 10k walks, you know, shit like this, which is actually science-backed and, to be honest, very helpful. I am grateful that I came across these channels and podcasts long before they became popular.

But recently, now that I am actually working and experiencing life as an adult in a third-world country, I feel this advice doesn’t work, or at least only to some extent.

The biggest reason is that the work we do and the days we spend here in third-world countries are way different from where these podcasts and creators stem from, the first world. I can't keep my phone away because my boss is in the first world. I can't go for a walk because I'm working until late at night. I can't set a fixed time to shut off all notifications because I keep getting them after the allocated time.

It's the same for everyone around me. Most people, at least in India, are working in the service-based industry, and the way labour laws are chewed up and thrown away here is crazy; there is absolutely no regard.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we as an Asian society are taught to always respect authority, which is why we're staying late for the bosses. For some people, literally sucking their cocks is the only thing left. Second is population. You are literally sold as cheap labour, and if you act up, thousands are waiting to replace you. And finally, the most important factor is scarcity. Scarcity is the keyword here. If you know a certain population is scarce of something, you can use that to manipulate the whole population.

Let's take my own example. I come from a weak financial background, better than most, but still fucked up, so we had to take out an education loan. Now I'm in the trap. Money is in scarcity, so I will go above and beyond for that fucking job, because hey, I've got to pay my monthly instalment. And this is a good-case scenario for someone in the third world. There are people out here who are so fucking poor that everything is scarce for them.

There is no food on the table, just absolute uncertainty. What's the result? The poor are being exploited. So, unless you are part of the financial and lifestyle crème de la crème, you are essentially fucked.

Coming back to the point I started with, all these reasons make it impossible to follow any of the advice we get from these podcasts, no matter how good and science-backed it is. No matter how much you understand why burnout happens, you still have to suck it up and work late at night, because it all comes down to scarcity.

So no, I can't complete my 10k steps because I am stuck to my work chair all day to answer to various people. I cannot look after my wife and kids in the evening because I am in a client meeting. I can't keep my phone away because my boss keeps pinging me. I can't keep my phone away because the client is somewhere in a Western country and is so unaware or ignorant of anyone but their timezone that they keep setting meetings at 1 in the night. I can't eat protein from protein powder or meat because both are expensive.

Our entire generation is cooked. We grew up on productivity hacks, stoic wisdom, and promises of optimised living. Now we’re adults, drowning in work, and realising none of it fits our reality. The result? Anxiety, burnout, and hustle culture are eating us alive while pretending to be our saviours.

So what’s the takeaway? Simple: reality is fucked, and so are we. The best we can do is stop doomscrolling, cut social media consumption, and tune out the constant flood of "advice" that makes us feel worse about ourselves. The advice isn’t inherently bad; implement what you can, when you can, but don’t let it become another source of stress.