The Weekly Exhaustion Index š„June 16, 2025 (Edition #16)
A weekly report on burnout, overwork, and the quiet rebellion against productivity culture.
Welcome to The Weekly Exhaustion Index š„
If BURNT unpacks the roots of burnout, The Exhaustion Index tracks it in real timeābecause exhaustion isnāt just personal, itās global. Each week, I break down the biggest conversations on work, rest, and productivity, so you donāt have to doomscroll your way to enlightenment.
Think of this as BURNTās news sectionāminus the wellness clichĆ©s, plus some sharp, necessary critiques. Letās get into it.
This week, weāre talking about:
š The mental cost of just trying to exist inside a broken immigration system
š§ Fake calamari, evil twins, and the laugh you didnāt know you needed
š Why 4 out of 5 workers are mentally checked out, and what thatās costing us
š© How chasing inbox zero keeps you stuck in productivity purgatory
š¬ The difference between temporary pain and a lifetime of numbness
šØ And the plush toy empire taking over the internet, one creepy little fang at a time
Letās get into it.
š Week of June 16, 2025
1ļøā£ Must-Read: The Article You Need This Week
š āThe Dire Mental Health Effects of Restrictive Immigration Policiesā ā Rosalind Ghafar Rogers, PhD
We talk a lot about burnout in white-collar jobs. But what about the mental cost of simply trying to exist inside a broken immigration system?
Last week, as ICE raids sweep through Los Angeles, detaining workers in factories, construction sites, and parking lots, protests have erupted. People are marching. Families are disappearing. The trauma is real. And itās unfolding in real time.
Thatās what makes this article by Dr. Rosalind Ghafar Rogers so urgent. She details how punitive immigration policies, like detention, deportation threats, legal limbo, and family separation, donāt just disrupt lives, they dismantle mental health. PTSD, depression, chronic anxiety, even suicidal ideation are common among migrants navigating this system.
Whatās happening in the U.S. isnāt new. Itās just more visible. The fear, isolation, and exhaustion are part of a national pattern, and they have long-term consequences on health, families, and entire communities. If you care about mental health, you have to care about immigration. This is what structural burnout looks like.
š Read the full piece
2ļøā£ Listen to This: A Podcast That Gets It
š§ āDoppelgƤngersā ā This American Life, Ep. 484 (feat. Fred Armisen)
This episode is absurd in the best way possible. Fred Armisen joins Ira Glass as guest host, and their chemistry alone is worth the listen. It's weird, smart, and genuinely hilariousāthe kind of brain break you need when the world feels like it's burning.
It opens with a tip about a meat plant allegedly selling pig intestines as fake calamari, and yes, they actually investigate it. But from there, it spirals (delightfully) into stories about doppelgƤngers, doubles, evil twins, and mistaken identity.
In a week full of burnout, ICE raids, and systemic chaos, this is levity without detachment. It reminds us that laughter is not a distraction, itās survival.
š§ Listen here
3ļøā£ Insight of the Week: Did You Know?
š 79% of employees say they feel disconnected from their jobs, and itās costing us $438 billion a year in lost productivity. (Gallup, 2025)
Let that sink in: nearly 4 out of 5 people are showing up to work while mentally checked out. Theyāre on Zoom, theyāre in the Slack channels, theyāre updating the deck, but theyāre not in it.
And this isnāt about ālazinessā or lack of grit. This is the result of extractive, performative workplace cultures that demand output but offer no purpose. That overvalue urgency and under-resource people. That confuse control for leadership.
Disengagement isnāt a vibe problem, itās a system failure. One that quietly bleeds billions in productivity and leaves millions feeling like ghosts inside their own careers.
And the worst part? Most companies wonāt notice until people are already gone.
4ļøā£ Productivity Myth to Unlearn
š© āInbox zero is the goal.ā
Inbox zero sounds noble, until you realize itās just a game of whack-a-mole with no finish line and no actual reward. You clear ten emails and get fifteen more. You respond immediately and train people to expect urgency over intention.
Your email is not your job. Itās a tool, not a metric of your value. And yet so many of us organize our entire workday around managing other peopleās priorities in real time... with the illusion that an empty inbox means weāre ācaught up.ā Youāre not caught up. Youāre caught in.
The truth? Inbox zero is a feeling, not a number. You donāt need to be available 24/7.
5ļøā£ Quote of the Week: Something to Sit With
š¬ āIt takes courage...to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.ā ā Marianne Williamson
The sharp pain is the breakdown. The clarity. The uncomfortable truth youāve been avoiding.
The dull pain is the performance. The detachment. The slow death of staying quiet, staying small, staying asleep.
One hurts now. The other hurts forever. Choose wisely.
6ļøā£ Just Because: Something I Canāt Wrap My Head Around
šØ Labubu Me Crazy
I donāt get it, but obviously, a lot of people do. Labubu, this creepy-cute, fang-toothed plush toy from Hong Kong artist Kasing Lungā¦.is everywhere. From blind-box fever to accessory attachĆ©, itās popped off in a way that feels like the next Beanie Babies or Furby, but on steroids.
Hereās the data:
The line pulled Ā„6.3āÆbillion (~$870M) in sales in just the first half of 2024
Limited drops sell out in minutes, with collectors flipping pieces for hundreds or thousands, even a life-sized Labubu fetched $150K at auction
Even the meme token version, ā$LABUBU,ā hit a $600K+ market cap on crypto platforms, even though itās basically fan art powered by FOMO
Explain that to me: a shaggy, gnarly, toothy monster toy has become a global cult object?! Celebs like Blackpinkās Lisa and Rihanna carry them, luxury brands collab with them, and collectors go absolutely berserk.
Why? Is it nostalgia for chaos? A pandemic-era craving for small-scale joy? A rebellion against curated perfection? Or just a collective āBecause we can.ā
Itās weird. Itās wild. Itās real. And Iām both bewildered, obsessed, and bizarrely fascinated.
