An article on Quartz begins, "In an era of limitless technology and information, life can feel at once empowering and overwhelming—especially in jobs where employees feel pressure to be swamped. But just how busy are we, really?" The global marketing firm Havas Worldwide wanted to know the answer, so they surveyed over 10,000 adults across 28 countries. The bottom line was stunning: People feel compelled to lie about how busy they are.

When the respondents were asked the question "I sometimes pretend to be busier than I am," over 51 percent of Millennials answered yes. And when asked that question about other people, between 57 percent to 65 percent of those surveyed think other people pretend to busier than they actually are. The conclusion from the researchers is very revealing for how we live our lives: " … our tendency to lie about how busy we are comes from our belief that being busy is equivalent to 'leading a life of significance' and not wanting to be 'relegated to the sidelines.'"