There is this new phenomenon now. Just like we had the resignation economy and even the laying flat economy, we now have the quiet quitting economy. Truthfully, I don’t like that phrase of “quiet quitting”. To me, as a psychologist, it seems to hit on two things: satisficing and learned helplessness.

Quiet quitting means just as whst the phrase connotes. You are quitting but it’s not an active, loudly pronounced resignation. You just go in and out each day and just do the work. No more than required. It be that you’re burnt out and just can’t give one more ounce. And these days, there sure is a lot of that at all levels of the workforce. It can’t be that you give it your all day in and day out and have it be inconsequential both in actuality and perception. At some point, you will retreat and note this is just the way things are and thus there is no reason to try. Of course this will ruin the economy’s productivity and impact everyone at large if this quiet quitting happens en masse. But maybe that’s what people want. Maybe by engaging in quiet quitting they finally feel consequential. And, maybe then, sanity and peace of mind can be found.