In China, a growing number of Gen Zers are identifying as “rat people.” They spend most of their time in bed. Scrolling. Eating one meal a day. Avoiding the outside world. And they’re not hiding it. They’re posting their routines on social media and getting hundreds of thousands of likes.
The lifestyle is simple. Sleep, scroll, eat, repeat.
How did we get here?
This didn’t come out of nowhere. First came lay flat, where people rejected overwork and settled for doing the bare minimum. Then came let it rot, a more extreme shift where people walked away from their goals entirely, deciding it wasn’t worth trying to improve anything at all.
When Opting Out Becomes the Only Option
Rat people aren’t stepping off a career path. They never made it onto one. They’ve tried. They’ve applied. They’ve followed the script. But every rejection chips away at their confidence. Eventually, the only thing left to control is their withdrawal. Choosing not to try becomes a way to stay sane.
It’s not just burnout. It’s disillusionment.
Many of these young people are highly educated. They grew up hearing that effort and credentials would pay off. Instead, they’re getting ghosted by job boards, squeezed by a slowing economy, and shut out of any path that leads to real mobility.
Youth unemployment in China is over 16 percent. Most entry-level jobs are low paying, low growth, and still expect long hours. 996 culture—working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—is still treated as normal in a lot of places. What’s waiting at the end of that schedule? Not much.
So if stability or upward mobility is off the table, what are people supposed to aim for instead?
For some, the answer is to stop aiming altogether.
Across platforms like Douyin and Weibo, Gen Zers are posting their “rat routines” as if they’re vlog content. Waking up at noon. Scrolling for hours. Maybe eating. Maybe not. Then, going back to bed. Some call it a “horizontal schedule.” Others call it a lifestyle. And it’s resonating.
That’s what makes this different. It’s not just a personal retreat. It’s collective. It’s visible. And it’s growing.
This Isn’t Just a China Thing
In the West, you’ll find different packaging but the same mood. Bare Minimum Mondays. Quiet quitting. NEETs by choice. Gen Z everywhere is watching the gap between effort and reward get wider. And more of them are choosing to sit the whole thing out.
This isn’t a temporary phase. It’s what happens when an entire generation stops seeing a future they can realistically reach. The more disconnected the promise of progress becomes, the easier it is to step back and stop participating.
But disillusionment doesn’t just fade. It collects. Quietly. Until one day, it doesn’t.
P.S. The good news is that since you’re here, you can avoid becoming a rat person. Subscribe and get personal insights from people who’ve been there and done that, delivered straight to your inbox!
