This thesis report details my exploration into the topic of hustle culturewith the goal of opening conversations. This exploration centres around myprocess of producing an animated short film Pursuit and aims to address thequestion, “what does it mean to be productive”?Hustle culture is introduced as a masochistic work-ethic way of life thatcauses productivity to become toxic and self care to get lost in the noise. Itake a closer look at other creators who inspire my work and why in orderto position myself as a change agent in relation to visual communication.This report touches upon the disparities and similarities between workculture now vs in the past, taking into consideration the longer historical,social and economic influence of work culture over time. It also investigatesthe phenomenon of increasing speed that media/information is spread andabsorbed today and emerging practices of resistance like the concept of slowliving. This thesis report concludes that even though there is no one size fitsall solution, tangible change can still be made to mend our relationship withtime and productivity by first talking about it.

The current study has aimed, through a qualitative approach, to provide a deeper understanding of adolescent boys' perceptions of content on social media revolving around other people's successes. Particularly, the study has focused on the concept of Hustle-Culture to describe idealized portrayals of success on social media. By exploring how adolescent boys identify, describe and relate to Hustle-Culture on social media, the results have shown that content related to Hustle-Culture is common among the interviewed respondents. Additionally, the results indicate that the respondents, through their own descriptions, adopt a critical stance towards content associated with Hustle-Culture. The findings of the study underscore the importance of future research in the realm of social media's impact on adolescent boys, possibly needing to focus on norms surrounding success and career choices. / Den aktuella studien har genom ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt försökt att bidra med en djupare förståelse kring unga killar i gymnasieålderns uppfattningar om innehåll på sociala medier som kretsar kring andra människors framgångar. Särskilt fokus har inom studien varit på begreppet Hustle-kultur för att beskriva idealiserade porträtteringar av framgångar på sociala medier. Genom att undersöka hur unga killar identifierar, beskriver och förhåller sig till Hustle-kultur på sociala medier, visade resultatet att innehåll kopplat till Hustle-kultur är vanligt förekommande bland de respondenter som intervjuats. Resultatet visar även att respondenterna, genom egna beskrivningar, förhåller sig kritiskt till innehåll kopplat till Hustle-kultur. Studiens resultat framhäver vikten av att framtida forskning inom området för sociala mediers påverkan på unga killar, möjligtvis behöver rikta fokus mot normer som kretsar kring framgångar och karriärsval.