Picture a person who seems to embody productivity. Maybe you thought of someone cooking dinner while on the phone, answering emails while walking on the treadmill or doing math homework and listening in on a Zoom meeting at the same time. We view this kind of multitasking as the ultimate efficiency because we live in a culture that glorifies busyness — where our worth is often measured by how much we can get done in a day. We equate constant motion with success, even when it leaves us drained and unfocused.
Being at an Ivy League institution only compounds this stress. Surrounded by multifaceted and successful students who seem to perfectly juggle coursework, extracurricular activities and a social life, it feels like we must do the same to keep up. Even though Brown might not be considered a pressure cooker in the same way similarly ranked universities are, the pressure is there nonetheless. Faced with far more tasks than we can complete in a single day, we may rush to find shortcuts and work on assignments simultaneously, sacrificing quality in the process.
In a culture obsessed with productivity and doing it all, students would benefit more from slowing down and dedicating themselves fully to a few meaningful commitments rather than spreading themselves thin.
As an incoming first-year student, I faced a barrage of advice coming from parents, teachers and third- and fourth-year students at Brown: “Get involved in everything you can,” “join every club,” “say yes to every social event or invitation.” This advice, though well-intentioned, incentivizes the pursuit of quantity over quality, promoting a greater number of commitments instead of a few, meaningful ones.
Much of this pressure may stem from “hustle culture.” This is exacerbated by social media, where influencers post unrealistic “day-in-the-life” videos that show them waking up early, often at 4 a.m., enduring extensive exercise routines and working long hours. The promotion of this mindset starts young — even in children’s books like Harry Potter, Hermione Granger uses a “Time Turner” to go back in time every day and attend twice as many classes as she would otherwise. These cultural tailwinds exacerbate students’ fears — whether about the increasingly uncertain job market, gaining acceptance into competitive graduate programs or withstanding pressures from family members — that the only way to be successful is to do as much as you can. We spread ourselves thin, trying to find internships, do well in our classes or pull all-nighters studying, all to our detriment. Perhaps more importantly, trying to do everything makes us less interested and passionate about what we’re involved in.
While Hermione Granger’s Time Turner is an obviously unrealistic example, the pressure to do more manifests itself in many facets of life on College Hill.
One such example of this is the rise in the number of students double-concentrating, from just under 20% in 2015 to 32% in 2024. According to The Herald’s 2025 First-Year Poll, over 40% of first-year students said they intend to double-concentrate, which often means taking over 20 required classes. Concentrating in two separate fields is widely praised, and it should be — it’s important for students to be well-rounded and have interests that span multiple disciplines. But double-concentrating has pitfalls. It means that the vast majority of classes are predetermined, a principle that is antithetical to the logic behind the Open Curriculum, which enables students to explore different interests without the pressure of fulfilling core requirements. In limiting students to two concentrations, Brown has already recognized the downsides of students pursuing too many areas of interest.
It’s likely the majority of students seeking to double-concentrate are truly interested in both areas. And even if they are not, I can certainly understand why many students are trying to hedge their bets. The job market awaiting college graduates looks more uncertain than ever, so it makes sense that students want to pad their resumes with the most expansive list of experiences possible. But perhaps employers might value someone exhibiting a depth of focus and expertise on one thing, rather than dabbling in everything. Still, evidence points to the conclusion that students who double major do not fare significantly better in the job market than those who only graduate with one degree.
We should instead focus our activities and academics in a few, substantive areas. The benefits of doing one thing at a time, or “single tasking,” are numerous — greater efficiency and fewer mistakes.
As students at Brown, all of us have already proven that we are capable of doing many different things. Now we must prove something that is arguably harder: that we can do a few things well. In the face of hustle culture, the answer is not to try to cram more into our already overpacked lives, but rather to do less while caring about each thing more.
Max Mooney ’29 can be reached at max_mooney@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
