A 23-year-old man comes home from work, goes to the gym, and cooks himself some kind of beef and bell pepper concoction. Before bed, he showers and then drifts off to sleep — all while recording himself, obviously. Innocent enough, right?
Yet videos like these are the latest thing to divide the internet on a daily basis, spewing heated opinions about what an after-work routine, arguably a life, should look like. One of the top comments says, “I’d rather die than live like this”. It has 3855 likes. Many agree, claiming he’s an NPC (non-player character) who “never does anything fun”. Others differ, chiming in that it’s an “average person’s day” and he’s “making the best out of his time”.
Videos like this exist everywhere you look, often with the caption “My 5-9 after my 9-5,” with timestamps documenting the evening as it progresses. They live in grey, nondescript cities with the kind of grey, nondescript apartments you’d expect to find in the TV series Love is Blind. The lighting is stark, sterile. There must have been a shortage of lamps at Kmart that day. They seem to live alone, or social interactions are kept to a minimum. They work out, they cook, they watch something on Netflix. Maybe an intensive skincare routine is added in, or perhaps a moment of journalling.
And the thing is, people can’t stand it.
In a world where people are perpetually having to negotiate space for themselves within a 9 to 5 working culture, these videos show both the ideals and the constraints of such a system. For someone with three kids who may struggle to find time to even wash their own hair, seeing someone go to the gym and marinate chicken can seem like a giant, puffy middle finger. Yet to the wealthy who are afforded more leisure time from the sweat of others, a lifestyle of leg crunches and honey glazes seems unbearably boring. Where’s the after-work cocktails, the paint and sip classes? What a bleak existence, they might sigh.
It’s true, this isn’t the lifestyle Sex and the City promised us. Carrie Bradshaw has ruined me in many inscrutable ways; romantically, financially, socially. Growing up, we were almost force-fed think pieces on the best day-to-night dresses, how to transition from the office to the club, are you more of a cosmo girl or a martini temptress? Now, due to the pandemic, inflation, whatever else you call it, the after-work routine of a working 20-something has changed beyond recognition. $23 cocktails on a rooftop bar? I think I’d rather meal-prep, thanks.
These videos have been criticised culture by several internet writers as models of hyper-productivity, or toxic hustle. “In a capitalist society that romanticises the working life and maximising your potential, the 5 to 9 trend glamorises 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,” writes Megan Geall for Glamour magazine.
Yet most of us have to cook and clean every day anyway, and there’s nothing particularly glamorous about watching someone reach for tomatoes at their local Countdown (unless it’s winter, of course). If anything, these videos seem to fight back against the perfect snapshot of brunches, manicures, and sunset hikes that users absorb on a daily basis. This is conceivably real life, projected back at us through a 6-inch screen.
That being said, these creators must know to make these videos on the cusp of between inspiring and dispiriting. Discourse, and thus comments, shares etc, is often found amid dichotomies. Is this dress blue and black or white and gold? Is Kate Middleton resting at home after surgery or leaving Will and cutting curtain bangs? If you find these videos polarising, they were likely intended that way.
I think we sometimes forget that although an internet algorithm might bind a collective together through shared humour or interests, our realities are still fundamentally different. When I was 19, depressed and eating mi goreng noodles for every conceivable meal, the idea of doing a Pilates class and downing a green smoothie would have me eye-rolling into my soy sauce sachets.
I probably would have commented something to that extent on a video. Now 25 and frontal-lobed up, those things are strangely appealing to me. I’m googling what the best running shoes are for pronating feet, I’m trying to build some semblance of a laundry routine. I can only shudder at the thought of what people would say if I filmed my evening routine – I’m far, far more boring than I was 3 or 4 years. I’m also much happier.
Journalist Cloey Callahan makes a case that these videos reframe how people view their weekdays, rather than just “living for the weekend”. It’s about putting thought and intention into your evening routine, so you don’t get sucked into a 3-hour spiral of Instagram reels. Maybe watching someone else ride a bike and make miso pasta will inspire you to do the same, and that’s probably not the worst thing in the world. Just buy a lamp or two, for the sake of decency.
