Our frustration grows into rage until eventually we are dropped into a pit of despair. Basically, when we have unmeetable goals, our brains can’t handle it. Nagoski: We talk about the research on frustration and quitting very early in the book, because understanding it is so fundamental to managing burnout. But based on what we know about burnout, how rooted in psychological phenomena would you expect it to be? Nyce: Because it’s so new, I imagine there hasn’t been much research on quiet quitting. When we understand that we will never cross that divide, and we see that we truly don’t want to be the people that we are told we “should” be, we are freed to understand our worth on our own terms. If we don’t abandon the cultural demands that require us to conform in ways that aren’t natural to us, burnout progresses as we worry about the gap between who we are and who we are expected to be. A lot of those demands are unspoken cultural expectations rather than actual work requirements, and they comprise the bullshit that workers abandon when they quiet-quit. Burnout begins with unceasing demands and unmeetable goals-the kinds that employers thrive on as they squeeze their employees not just for their time and labor, but for their obedience, their humanity, and their souls. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.Ĭaroline Mimbs Nyce: How do you think quiet quitting relates to burnout?Īmelia Nagoski: I expect quiet quitting can be a part of a lifestyle to prevent burnout or help someone recover from burnout. Nagoski and I discussed that-and quiet quitting’s deeper link to a broader push for better labor protections-over email. I was curious about the relationship between quiet quitting and the more scientifically established phenomenon of burnout. “I’m glad to see younger generations opting out of exploitative work cultures.” “This is all very familiar to me,” she told me over email. Others have argued that scaling back at work is too risky for women and people of color.ĭerek Thompson: Three myths of the Great ResignationĪmelia Nagoski, a co-author, with her sister Emily Nagoski, of the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, thinks the new term is useful-although she isn’t surprised by the discourse around it. “Back in the day it was called a regular work shift,” reads the top comment, with more than 24,000 likes, on one TikTok. Is this really anything new? Many people have criticized the term, saying that it’s just another phrase for having a job. The polling company Gallup found that at least half of Americans-maybe more-fit the definition of quiet quitting. TikToks dissecting the concept have amassed millions of views, prompting many national media outlets to publish explainers on the topic. To cite the Oxford English Dictionary of our very online times, Google searches for quiet quitting were basically nonexistent until this past August.īut now it’s everywhere. The second thing you need to know is that the term is brand-new, so everyone is still figuring out the rest. Instead, the quitter keeps their job and chooses to do only the bare minimum rather than go above and beyond. The first thing you need to know about quiet quitting is that it’s not actually quitting.
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