Exhausted and Not Doing Enough? The Productivity Paradox of Contemporary Academia

Professors today struggle with unreasonable workloads and a work management format antithetical to high quality research and teaching. Recent studies show that many professors suffer from high levels of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion, and several studies report high levels of burnout. The reasons for this situation are not yet fully understood. In this article, I discuss the current academic work management format as a key motive that hinders the well-being of professors and the quality of their work. To understand this issue, the article explores the concept of deep work in relation to academia. It examines the contrasting circumstances of deep work and the continual and disruptive mode of communication required by the hyperactive hive mind. Work based on instant digital communication tools takes a hidden toll on the ability of professors to manage their attention. Instant communications among academic staff members disrupts the deep work required for engagement in research and teaching. To obtain the best possible results from faculty, we should manage attention as a scarce and valuable resource. To do this requires redesigning the management of academic work, a project outside the remit of most academic professionals—or the professors subject to the demands of the hyperactive hive mentality.