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Tech execs are stressed out. Half are heavy drinkers and 45% take painkillers, a new study says

Tech execs are stressed out. Half are heavy drinkers and 45% take painkillers, a new study says.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-executives-report-heavy-alcohol-drinking-painkillers-substance-use-stress-2023-7

High stress and job insecurity have many tech executives turning to alcohol and controlled substances to cope, a new survey says.

32 comments

whatsarefoogee

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When it's tech execs, they are "stressed out". If this about regular people the title would say they are alcoholics and drug addicts.

And that wouldn't even be inaccurate. You don't take pain killers for stress. If they wanted to manage stress, they would be taking benzos. They are just drug addicts.

unwillingsomnambulist

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Non-exec tech worker here. It’s benzos, weed, and alcohol thank you very much.

sadreality

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Add some white powder to cover all emotional states

Mirror_I_rorrIMG

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You make a good point, but benzos can reduce productivity, which is why a lot of us turn to pain killers. I stay far away from pain killers because they are a really bad trap thats almost impossible to get out of. But like you said, anyone using drugs to cope is also a drug addict. But pretty much all drug addicts are doing it for the same reason, to cope with their life or try to run from their pain. People don't just become drug addicts, there is usually something that pushes them into it (like the stress of their job).

nbailey

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Their “stress” is also bullshit. A rich guy being worried about his pile of gold getting smaller is not the same as a struggling mother worrying about feeding her kids, or a miner worried about a cave-in.

New_account

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Stress is relative to your own personal conditions. It's not absolute. A tech executive might have a nice house and financial security, but if he's working 80 hours/week under intense pressure to meet some deadline, that's still stressful. Nobody wants to be perceived as a failure at work, even if their personal financial consequences for failure are minimal.

Your argument seems to imply it's impossible to feel stress if you're comfortable in life. Even the poorest Americans can count on access to food, clean running water, electricity, internet, etc. For most of humanity's existence, and still today in some parts of the world, these would be considered enormous luxuries, so anyone with access to them would be seen as extremely comfortable in life. Clearly though, people can still be stressed out despite having access to these sorts of things that most of history would consider luxurious.

Stress is relative, not absolute.

sadreality

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Even the poorest Americans can count on access to food, clean running water, electricity, internet, etc

Millions of Americans can't actually...

AProfessional

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The mind is not logical or attached to others suffering. It’s the same stress response.

VanillaGorilla

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Yes, but one of them can stop working and live from their pile of gold and the others have to power through their pile of shit.

HobbitFoot

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The stress isn't about money, but having to be responsible for an organization.

I get that it isn't the same as the stress of a poor single mother, but it isn't like there is no stress.

RiikkaTheIcePrincess

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"Responsible" :'D Is that what they are? I'd better go check my definition for that word.

razdonovich

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TIL I'm qualified to be a tech exec

stanleytweedle

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I also have a pulse and can fog a mirror.

Saneless

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What makes this extra fun is the corps and media saying there's going to be a recession "any day now" for 11 goddamned months straight. My job is OK but my company is stable and I'm not going to leave just to get laid off the day after "any day now"

june

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My CEO (of a tech trade association) has been calling it a fake recession since the month before ‘it’ hit.

axolittl

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Maybe they say there will be a recession to keep people scared, to keep people clinging to jobs they don't like because if there's a recession it will be hard to get hired elsewhere

Saneless

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That's been my thought as well

HobbitFoot

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Yeah, they say it, but the collapse of commercial real estate isn't going to have the affect that the collapse of residential real estate did.

Even then, the economy is still hopped up on stimulus, pent up demand, and lowered labor participation.

geekworking

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I bet that the stats are higher for the folks in the trenches below them

SpicyPeaSoup

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Stop wasting time and keep the conversation relevant. We're only concerned with the wellbeing of rich people.

black_forest_gummies

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Oh no! Not the execs that copy the decisions of other execs without any regard for their employees! I for one am happy about this

otter_bee

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Yeah honestly I'm not surprised, they can probably use their piles of cash to wipe away their tears. I work for a very large company as an SDE and when asked about how I feel about the manager track, I am met with awkward silence when I say I absolutely do not want that path. My manager probably doesn't make a ton more than me, but they work at least 2x the hours with way more stress. Not worth it. These people chose these lives.

Mikelius

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Yup, senior IC here, been getting roped into more "manager" type stuff but fuck me are those things obnoxious. Perf reviews, budgeting, promos, god damn.

sadreality

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Yeah... A lot of time they don't offer enough money to make that switch IMHO

Offering as some sort of privilege. Bitch you want me to take that shit on, show me the money

otter_bee

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Yea my next promo is senior and honestly I'm probably just going to take that for the title and then fuck off. Based on my team's current seniors it's exactly how you describe it. Basically just manager light.

hydra

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Boo hoo, I am so stressed! I can only fly in a gold plated private jet instead of a rhodium plated one. The west has fallen, trillions must fly

TwoGems

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Permanently Deleted

BaldProphet

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If job insecurity is causing stress to highly paid tech executives, they're living beyond their means/have succumbed to lifestyle creep. They should spend less and save more so that when they're fired or laid off they won't have to struggle between jobs.

Burstar

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BettyWhiteInHD

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Permanently Deleted

Arotrios

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This is why I decided to go into analysis rather than management. Coffee, weed and cigarettes are a considerably more pleasant combination of addiction, and instead of drunkenly raging at my subordinates, I just giggle when things get stressful. That or take a nap.

tallwookie

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pfff, exec's have always had substance abuse problems. it's so common that it even shows up in films (Harry Ellis, Die Hard)

Lumun

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Those numbers seem pretty high, but without comparison to workers in the tech sector as a whole and workers in the US as a whole, it's pretty useless data. This study does seem to show that these execs are using drugs at a much higher rate (if you trust the OP article methodology) than other information workers, but I don't think that should suprise anyone, since workplace stress is usual higher for execs. The other difference is that they have a lot more disposable income than most workers to spend on drugs and other coping mechanisms.

playxdestroy

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Won’t somebody please think of the tech execs?