Name: 【TED】Thomas Curran: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse (Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse | Thomas Curran)
Uploaded: 2019-04-01T16:05:59.000Z
Duration: 14 min 55 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Now, how many times have you heard that one?

Over drinks, maybe, with friends, or perhaps with family at Thanksgiving.

to the difficult, final question at job interviews:

You see, for something that supposedly holds us back,

it's quite remarkable how many of us are quite happy to hold our hands up

But there's an interesting and serious point

because our begrudging admiration for perfection is so pervasive

that we never really stop to question that concept in its own terms.

What does it say about us and our society

that there is a kind of celebration in perfection?

We tend to hold perfectionism up as an insignia of worth.

I've seen limited evidence that perfectionists are more successful.

amid a lingering sense that they're never quite perfect enough.

that perfectionism conceals a host of psychological difficulties,

including things like depression, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia

And what's more worrying is that over the last 25 years,

we have seen perfectionism rise at an alarming rate.

we have seen more mental illness among young people than ever before.

increased by 25 percent across the last two decades.

And we're beginning to see similar trends emerge across Canada,

and in my home country, the United Kingdom.

that perfectionism is rising as society is changing.

And a changed society reflects a changed sense of personal identity

and, with it, differences in the way in which young people interact

with each other and the world around them.

And there are some unique characteristics about our preeminent, market-based society

that include things like unrestricted choice

and these are characteristics that we feel are contributing

to almost epidemic levels of this problem.

Young people today are more preoccupied with the attainment of the perfect life

In terms of their image, status and wealth.

are 20 percent more likely to report being materially rich

as among their most important life goals,

relative to their parents and their grandparents.

Young people also borrow more heavily than did older generations,

and they spend a much greater proportion of their income on image goods

These possessions, their lives and their lifestyles

are now displayed in vivid detail on the ubiquitous social media platforms

the appearance of perfection is far more important than the reality.

that we have so lavishly furnished for young people

is this idea that there's a perfectible life

and that there's a perfectible lifestyle,

Nothing is out of reach for those who want it badly enough.

This is the idea at the heart of the American dream.

Opportunity, meritocracy, the self-made person, hard work.

The notion that hard work always pays off.

And above all, the idea that we're captains of our own destiny.

These ideas, they connect our wealth, our status

and our image with our innate, personal value.

Because even if there were equality of opportunity,

the idea that we are captains of our own destiny

disguises a much darker reality for young people

that they are subject to an almost ongoing economic tribunal.

have emerged as the yardsticks for which merit can be quantified

and used to sort young people into schools, classes and colleges.

where measurement is so publicly played out

as a tool to improve standards and performance.

Young people in America's big city high schools

take some 112 mandatory standardized tests

between prekindergarten and the end of 12th grade.

No wonder young people report a strong need to strive,

perform and achieve at the center of modern life.

They've been conditioned to define themselves

in the strict and narrow terms of grades, percentiles and lead tables.

This is a society that preys on their insecurities.

Insecurities about how they are performing

and how they are appearing to other people.

This is a society that amplifies their imperfections.

【TED】Thomas Curran: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse (Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse | Thomas Curran)

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【TED】Thomas Curran: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse (Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse | Thomas Curran)

anxiety

relevant

mental

depression