My mother's life had space for her to rest. Mine feels like it never stops.

"Ding. Ding. Ding. Text messages. Calendar updates. Emails. Social media notifications. Somehow, the advancement of technology and our digitally-driven interconnectedness has tethered me to everyone and everything, all at once, until I can't tell where my attention - or my peace - belongs. It feels like the influx of things and people needing my attention never stops. My phone vibrates before I've even crawled out of bed, and somehow the day has already started without me."

"When I think about my mother's life, I realize she carried her own share of burdens - raising kids, managing a home, working hard - but she also had built-in margins that I don't. There was no expectation to respond instantly, no endless scroll of comparison waiting in her pocket. If someone needed her, they called. If she was busy, they left a message on the answering machine and waited. There was space in her days, uninterrupted minutes to think, breathe, and be."

"Every minute of my day has a purpose I, on the other hand, fill every gap. When the baby naps, I "catch up" on emails. When I fold laundry, I listen to a podcast about being more productive. Even rest has to multitask. The very moments that could refuel me are swallowed up by the pressure to do more, learn more, be more."

Digital notifications and constant connectivity tether attention to many people and tasks and fragment daily life from the moment of waking. The result is living in a near-constant state of half-attention while managing work, household responsibilities, and parenting six children. Previous generations experienced built-in margins, with delayed expectations to respond and uninterrupted pockets of time. Current habits fill every spare moment with productive tasks, leaving rest to multitask and eroding opportunities for genuine recovery. Exhaustion becomes normalized and sometimes framed as a badge of keeping up. Small deliberate adjustments and boundaries are necessary to reclaim time, restore focus, and protect mental health.

Read at Business Insider