Well-Being and Creative Careers: What Makes You Happy Can Also Make You Sick

Higher Seminar in Journalism & Media and Communication Studies with Mark Deuze from University of Amsterdam

Welcome to the next higher seminar organised by the Media and Communication Studies department!
In this higher seminar, Mark Deuze will present his book, 'Well-Being and Creative Careers: What Makes You Happy Can Also Make You Sick.'

The media, cultural and creative industries thrive on passion, but that passion often comes at a cost. Behind the glamour of journalism, filmmaking, music, advertising, and online content creation lies a growing crisis—one of burnout, anxiety, substance abuse, and exhaustion. Why do so many creative professionals report feeling both deeply fulfilled and profoundly unwell?

Mark Deuze investigates the systemic issues that make creative work both exhilarating and unsustainable. Drawing on extensive research and in-depth interviews with media professionals (in journalism, film and television, music, digital games, advertising and marketing, and social media), he notes the hidden downsides of doing what you love and offers a candid analysis of how workplace structures, high workloads, and perceived injustices contribute to mental and physical distress.

This book is not just about what’s broken; it’s about what can be done. Deuze provides a roadmap for rethinking the culture of creative industries and offers strategies for balancing passion with sustainability. A practical resource for media scholars and those navigating the highs and lows of a creative career, this work challenges us to imagine a healthier future for our labor of love.

Mark Deuze is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Humanities. Before that he worked as a journalist and academic in the United States at Indiana University Bloomington, in Germany at the University of Münster, and in South Africa at the University of Johannesburg. Mark has held honorary appointments at the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, the School of Communication of the University of Technology Sydney, and the School of Arts and Humanities of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, and the Department of Communication and Media Studies of Northumbria University in Newcastle, United Kingdom.

His work has been supported by numerous individual and collaborative grants and fellowships, including the Amsterdam University Fund, Erasmus+ and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Commission, Discovery Projects of the Australia Research Council, and a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the United States.

Publications of his include 100+ papers in academic journals and 14 books, including “Happiness in Journalism” (co-edited with Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Avery Holton and Claudia Mellado, published with Routledge in 2024), and “Life in Media” (The MIT Press, 2023). Mark’s work has been translated in Modern Chinese, Czech, German, Mongolian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, and Hungarian. He is also the bass player and singer of Skinflower Länk till annan webbplats., with a new album titled “Kaduc” out in 2024.

It is possible to join the lecture on campus and online via Zoom. Contact us for the Zoom details if you'd like to join online.