South Africa, June 26 -- We're marketing researchers who study digital and social media wellness and teach the students who go on to fill these jobs. In a study published in September 2025, we interviewed social media marketers in the United States, Ireland, India, Germany and Australia and saw a profession quietly running on empty: passionate, creative people who are mentally drained by jobs that rarely turn off.

The numbers back them up. More than 40% of social media marketers plan to leave their jobs within two years, and nearly half say they get little support from supervisors for their mental health, according to industry research.

A job you can't log off from

Plenty of jobs are stressful. What makes this one different is that it'...