Sleep expert Dr Lindsay Browning says, “Society has always been geared up for morning people since before electricity and artificial lighting, it was important to do work in daylight hours. People who go to bed later and wake up later are often sleep-shamed for being lazy.” Having a different sleep schedule used to be a challenge because of jobs that needed daylight, like farming. But with inventions like electricity and lights, working without sunlight is easier, making sleep schedules more flexible. Teleconferencing has given people the option of meeting online, instead of having to go somewhere to meet. This is another development that makes a “normal” sleep schedule less necessary. So, why does this kind of shaming persist in today’s world? People call others “lazy” because it clears them of responsibility, making a person’s low wage or bad grades their own fault.

The label of “lazy” shifts the blame from the society to the individual. The New York Times published an editorial by rabbi Elliot Kukla, who suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic fatigue. In the article, Kukla talks about how the word “lazy” is used to justify inequality. He writes, “The word ‘lazy’ is still connected to racism and injustice. It’s poor, unhoused, young, Black, brown, mentally ill, fat and chronically sick people who are most often accused of sloth. We rarely hear about lazy billionaires, no matter how much of their fortune is inherited.” We shouldn’t be calling other people lazy when we don’t know what they are going through or what is happening in their lives. Shifting the blame for inequality from rich people to poor people justifies the rich not doing anything, because it “isn’t their fault.” Kukla also writes, “When we call people lazy (including ourselves), we are often pointing out that they’re too tired and weak to be productive, while often simultaneously accusing them of faking feebleness to get out of work for malevolent purposes.” Calling people weak, while also accusing them of faking weakness, is contradictory. It is dishonestly shifting blame, because it is impossible to be weak and faking weakness at the same time. 

Shaming isn’t just limited to laziness; people, especially teens, also get shamed for their sleep schedule. Writing at The Student Life, Mishaal Ijaz says, 

“For many teenagers, going to bed at 8 p.m. and waking up at 5 a.m. is biologically difficult because of their circadian rhythms. In a sleep study, it was concluded that teens do not start producing melatonin, the sleep hormone, until 11 p.m. at the earliest and 1 a.m. at the latest; and do not stop producing until 8 a.m., while adults start producing it at 10 p.m. If most teens do not feel tired until 1 a.m. and need eight to 10 hours of sleep every night, it would be difficult to feel fully rested if they followed a 5 a.m. morning routine.” 

I normally don’t feel tired until around 12 a.m., and then I go to sleep around 12:30. I definitely don’t get eight hours of sleep on weekdays, because I need to wake up at around 7:45. On Tuesdays, in my first class, history, everyone is still tired, and nobody raises their hand or talks. If we had another hour before class started, we could have more time to get rest, and then be more productive in class. Sometimes I get told that I should go to sleep earlier, but because I don’t get tired until midnight, I can’t really sleep before then. It is said in a way that implies that it is my fault, that I should just sleep earlier, even though it isn’t that simple. Ijaz also writes, “The desire to delay going to sleep can be the result of having an extremely busy schedule. There is a phenomenon called “revenge bedtime procrastination,” where people choose to sacrifice their sleep time at night and replace it with leisurely activities that they wouldn’t get to do otherwise. Thus, staying up late at night can be the result of students’ needing time to themselves after a long day.” Late at night is when I usually play games with my online friends, because earlier they are busy doing homework. I am fine sacrificing a bit of sleep to play with them, because being able to play games and hang out with them is usually one of the best parts of my day. There might be a price for it, but being able to play with my friends is worth it.

Shaming someone for having a different sleep schedule might have made sense in a time without artificial light, but things are different now. Having a sleep schedule that isn’t “normal” is more acceptable, and people shouldn’t be shamed for it. Individuals get blamed for being lazy to clear others of responsibility. Teens in particular get blamed for going to sleep later, when it's in their biology. At the end of the day, your sleep schedule should be something that works for you, because that will also benefit other people. Someone who is well rested will be at their most creative and productive.