The laptop is closed, and it’s off to the gym. A trip to the shop for ingredients. A healthy, homemade meal for two. Cleaning and washing up. Shower time: luxury products, skincare, maybe even a hair mask. Candles, journalling, and finally, bed.
No, this isn’t some perfect film scene; this is TikTok’s latest productivity trend. I’d thought (and hoped) that I’d seen the last of her, but the newest reincarnation of ‘That Girl’ and toxic hustle culture is here – how many chances does this girl get?
Named the 5 to 9 trend, videos involve users filming their post-work routines with an emphasis on how to make the most of your time after signing off from the 9 to 5 working life.
One TikTok user begins her take on this trend by tidying her living room and hoovering before emptying the dishwasher and opening a cookbook. She then prepares a healthy-looking, appetising, homemade meal for two – although her dinner partner doesn’t seem to lend a hand. She finishes the video by washing up and cleaning the kitchen until it sparkles.
Now, I don’t know about you, but my evening routine definitely does not look like this. Think more like joggers, a delicious meal, TV and a massive bowl of ice cream for pudding – I’m That Girl‘s worst nightmare. Scrolling through the comments on videos like these, it seems most agree that this lifestyle is unusually productive.
“So productive. I love it”, says one user, while another simply asks, “are you not exhausted”?
In reality, all the 5 to 9 trend promotes is a life of hyper-productivity. A quick Google search tells us that being hyperproductive is when an individual is excessively productive to the point that it leads to burnout.
“Unrealistic routines like the 5 to 9 trend on the surface looks really healthy,” suggests Jessica Brewer, founder of Emiz HR & Coaching, “but it is still about making your downtime productive — creating healthy meals, creating the perfect house, working out, journaling — it creates a pressure to conform and feel like you’re not enough.”
Women have experienced this type of societal pressure before with the ‘That girl’ aesthetic (think green juices, iced coffees, hot girl walks), selling a prescriptive routine of self-improvement. Hint: these routines don’t work. The 5 to 9 trend sees women doing chores and preparing for the next working day and sells it as productivity ‘goals’.
“People start to believe that it is a sustainable way to live and then go ahead and test it out regularly,” explains certified positive psychologist Dawn Baxter, “but what will happen is people will burn out.”
In a capitalist society that romanticises the working life and maximising your potential, the 5 to 9 trend glamourises certain activities over others. Each video shows gym classes, food shopping, cleaning or cooking rather than simple activities prioritising rest after a full working day. Sure, filming yourself having a nap, reading a book or watching TV doesn’t make a very interesting video and won’t make you a TikTok star, but having evenings that are less productive in capitalist terms is most beneficial to our health.