内耗
释义 DEFINITION
内耗原指机器在运转过程中因内部摩擦造成的能量损耗。在互联网语境中，该词被引申为形容个人或群体因内部矛盾、自我怀疑、过度思考而产生的精神消耗状态，常见于以下场景：
- 个人层面：反复纠结于选择、自我否定、陷入负面情绪循环
- 人际关系：团队内部因沟通不畅导致的效率低下
- 社会现象：体制内无效流程带来的资源浪费
根据知乎2023年《Z世代心理健康报告》，83%的年轻人将‘内耗’用于描述因过度自我审视导致的焦虑状态，这是目前最主要的用法。
词源故事 ETYMOLOGY
2021年，心理学博主@Ling的猫在微博发布漫画《停止内耗的100种方法》，用‘精神内耗’形容当代年轻人‘想太多而做太少’的状态。该贴获得27万转发，评论区迅速成为大型情绪宣泄现场：
‘看完方案改了8版，最后选了第1版，这过程就是职场内耗本耗’——点赞8.2万的热评
同年B站UP主‘老师好我叫何同学’发布视频《我们为什么越忙越焦虑》，通过脑科学解释内耗机制：当大脑杏仁核与前额叶皮质‘打架’，就会产生决策疲劳。视频中‘每个熬夜改PPT的夜晚，都是自我内耗的战场’成为现象级金句。
2022年《脱口秀大会》选手鸟鸟以‘社恐式内耗’为主题表演：‘我的大脑就像永动机，在‘我是不是说错话了’和‘他们是不是讨厌我’之间无限循环’，精准戳中当代青年痛点，推动该词完成从专业术语到全民流行语的转变。
典型用例：
- ‘今天什么都没做，却感觉好累’——能量型内耗
- ‘领导已读不回消息的三小时里，我脑补了被开除的108种方式’——社交型内耗
DEFINITION
The term 'Mental Drain' (内耗) originally described mechanical energy loss due to internal friction. In contemporary Chinese internet culture, it's evolved to depict:
- A psychological state where individuals exhaust themselves through overthinking and self-doubt (similar to 'analysis paralysis' but more emotionally charged)
- Organizational inefficiency caused by poor communication dynamics
- Systemic resource waste in bureaucratic structures
Think of it as 'the mental tax you pay for existing in modern society' - particularly resonant in China's fast-paced, high-pressure environment where young people face intense competition in education and job markets.
ETYMOLOGY
The viral spread of 内耗 began in 2021 when popular psychology blogger @Ling'sCat posted a comic titled 100 Ways to Stop Mental Drain on Weibo. Depicting scenarios like 'staring at a blank document for 3 hours' and 'rehearsing conversations that never happen', it struck a chord with millennials drowning in decision fatigue. The post's comment section became a support group, with top comments like:
'Spent 8 hours editing a report just to revert to the first draft - this is workplace mental drain incarnate' (82k likes)
Bilibili creator 'Teacher He' further popularized the term in his video Why We Get More Anxious When Busier, explaining through neuroscience how the amygdala and prefrontal cortex 'wrestle' during overthinking. His line 'Every night spent revising PowerPoints is a battlefield of self-consumption' became a cultural mantra.
By 2022, stand-up comedian Niao Niao reframed it as 'social anxiety drain' on China's version of Last Comic Standing: 'My brain is a perpetual motion machine, cycling between ''Did I say something wrong?'' and ''Do they all hate me?'''. This performance cemented 内耗 as the defining mental health vocabulary for China's 'tang ping' (lying flat) generation.
Cultural Context: Unlike Western individualism, Chinese collectivism amplifies 内耗 - the pressure to maintain social harmony often forces people to suppress personal needs, creating unique psychological friction.