Since the 2008 bubble burst, the West came to the dawning realisation – our way of life is unsustainable; we are living on credit and beyond our means.

That led us to pull our socks up and strive even harder – trying to make ends meet by boosting productivity, cutting waste and squeezing every last drop out of everything. But that brought with it a whole new realisation…

Even before we set out on this ‘productivity’ endeavour, we were working far too hard. Mothers and fathers drop the kids off at school, proceed to work and endure a day full of stress. By the end of it (after collecting the kids) mum and dad would be at home, still glued to the internet and their mobile phones, ‘tidying up’ after work hours.

The pattern is repeated everywhere. Older people do the same, as do youngsters. At least however, youngsters let their hair down on weekends.

It has become a whole vicious cycle that traps everyone. We are constantly plugged in and constantly at work and it is killing us. Trade union strength has waned over the years, but they are now trying the tactful approach. Rather than ordering people to ‘go slow’ or ‘work to rule’, they are taking a softer approach in reminding people about their health and the wellbeing of their families. Doing what we are doing, is just wrong.

We talk about Maltese kids not having time for anything because of their school homework workload – but as adults, we do it ourselves. As soon as many people get home, they are logging straight onto the internet to make sure they have not missed anything at work – that all important email that came in at 6.05pm.

It makes us wonder, what did we do before the advent of plugged in technology? Simple. We just waited till the next day. Of course today’s technology means that everything happens in real time. From news pages, to foreign exchange and stock deals, everything just keeps going, it is a never ending train of information, data and exchanges.

But at the end of the day, it is up to us to draw the line. Asia had to literally take the bull by the horns. Japan passed laws to prevent workers (not employers) from staying at their desks and working through the night after a man died at his desk from exhaustion and stress. It is good to be productive, but at what cost?

Malta has largely escaped the fallout of the European economic crisis – but we are still on the edge of a precipice. We are still treading water and we are still competing, but we cannot carry on like this forever. It all depends on how long the crisis will last. But everyone – even political parties and governments, have their breaking point and by doing what we are doing, we will hit that mark sooner rather than later.