"Just a Month After Joining, I Feel Older... My Company Won't Safeguard My Looks" Office Workers' Survival Tactics Go Viral in China

Emergence of the Buzzword "Office Aging"
Fatigue Grows Amid Work Weeks Exceeding 48 Hours

In an office in China, an employee is working at their desk with a parasol large enough to cover the entire workspace. This is to protect their skin and eyesight from indoor fluorescent lights and intense lighting.

An employee in an office in China is working while wearing a mask that completely covers their face or holding a parasol open. SCMP

On September 2, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a method to prevent so-called “office aging” has recently been circulating on Chinese social media platforms. Office workers are frequently reapplying sunscreen, wearing masks that completely cover their faces, and some are even using parasols indoors.

An office worker in Jiangsu Province posted on social media, “Just one month after starting work, my complexion became dull and my eyes felt extremely fatigued. But during my vacation, my skin turned bright again.”

Empathizing with this sentiment, users have uploaded short-form videos that frankly compare their appearance on their morning and evening commutes. These videos show them looking fresh with makeup intact in the morning, but by evening, their hair is greasy and their skin appears dull.

They refer to the wrinkles formed from frowning under work stress as “thought lines,” saying, “My company does not take responsibility for my looks or health.”

The view of a large number of umbrellas spread out in the office in China. Captured from Xiaohongshu.

This phenomenon illustrates the harsh labor conditions Chinese office workers face. As of May, the average weekly working hours in China stood at 48.2 hours, far exceeding the statutory limit of 44 hours.

Worn down by excessive workloads and stifling office environments, some employees even keep a mango pit on their desk and stroke it like a pet to ease anxiety. Commenting on this, one user criticized, “A good office environment is not a special benefit but a basic right that must be guaranteed. People should not be treated as disposable accessories of the workplace.”

Meanwhile, a paper by the research team led by Duarte, published in the international dermatology journal ‘Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia’, reported that sources such as TV monitors and computers do not emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Furthermore, the very small amount of UV radiation emitted by general lighting fluorescent lamps is converted to visible light by the phosphor located on the inside surface of the glass, and the glass absorbs the remaining ultraviolet rays, making them harmless to the human body.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.