The culture of competition and productivity has stressed the current generations and led to the birth of quiet quitting, a phenomenon that is talked about a lot on TikTok.

Millennials and generation Z seem to join forces through a phenomenon that has gone viral on TikTok and beyond. It responds to the name of quiet quitting and if you are part of one of these two generations you will surely have heard of it and have probably already taken it into consideration. Quiet quitting literally means “Quiet Abandonment” and especially concerns the world of work and study.

Everything starts from the extreme competition and the unbridled race to achieve ambitious goals that our society seems to require of each of us. Races and competitions that have psychologically weakened two of the most promising generations of this century, giving life to people who too often have to deal with anxiety and stress. 

Added to this is the malaise associated with everything that has been happening in recent years: pandemics, lockdowns, wars, economic crises and fear of climate change. It is precisely in this climate that this new approach to the world of work was born. Here, specifically, what quiet quitting is and why you should consider it for your life or not.

What Is Quiet Quitting?

Quiet quitting doesn’t mean actually quitting your job. It just means doing what’s required and then getting on with your life – having more work-life balance.

“You’re still performing your duties but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life […] Your value as a person is not determined by your professional success. We must focus on valuing the skills more than the achievements.” says Zaid Khan, a 24-year-old software engineer and musician in New York whose quiet quitting video has gone viral on TikTok.

This simple phrase embodies the whole essence of this phenomenon. Millennials and generation Z are driven day after day to believe that only by producing and being ambitious and giving our best even for compensation that is not up to the effort, can we be able to live a fulfilling life. Stress, performance anxiety and little economic satisfaction are normal conditions to live every day to aspire to a pre-established lifestyle that over the years has become little more than a mirage.

And this is how quiet quitting becomes an alternative to the culture of competition which often has little to do with the real desires of today’s young people, placed in a race with no holds barred even before choosing what they want to do with their lives.

Take Control Of Your Work

When we work, it seems almost obvious to be immersed in projects and to be completely absorbed by them. According to quiet quitting instead we should have control over our work and not the work that should have control over us. 

We are the architects of our destiny and we are also the architects of our work. Getting completely absorbed in it complicates, and greatly, the balance between work and private life , which in quiet quitting becomes a real necessity.

Set Limits

Work is a fundamental part of all of our lives, but when it starts engulfing us every day and every hour of our lives, then there’s a problem. Working to live is very different from living to work and this is the concept behind quiet quitting. 

Setting limits when working, not overloading yourself, not saying yes to a whole series of overtime can be vital for our psychophysical balance.

Producing, grinding tasks, being noticed for our tireless commitment, is detrimental to our mind and our body. Not going further with the workload that belongs to us does not mean stopping work or being a bad professional. It means giving the right value to one’s work , making sure that it is part of our day and not that it becomes the predominant part of it.

How The Covid-19 Pandemic Impacted Us

And it is no coincidence that quiet quitting exploded in conjunction with the Covid-19 pandemic. Young people engaged in the world of work had for the first time the opportunity to take charge of their projects more independently and to manage them in a softer way through smart working.

This has allowed many of them to enjoy a very different everyday life from the endless hours of work in the office and to benefit from breaks to dedicate to the family and to one’s passions, without renouncing to carry out one’s tasks meticulously.

The Cons of Quiet Quitting

And if the pros of quiet quitting are really many, especially for one’s mental health , this practice is not exempt from cons. The world of work, especially in capitalist countries, has been shocked by the philosophy behind this practice and has found a great negative impact on productivity.

It is no coincidence that big tech companies such as Google and Facebook , after granting remote working for an indefinite period, took a step back by calling employees back to the office.  But if for companies, the practice of quiet quitting risks being harmful to the continuation of productivity, it seems not to be so for those who choose it. 

Setting boundaries and establishing limits is proving to be an effective way to increase the well-being of those who work and protect against the risk of burnout.