Comment by Nevermark

I would describe this as giving up on any serious agency, and retreating into a game of time killing tactics oriented around other people's confused reactions.

A way to offload the challenging search for purpose, to a shallow controllable process, consistent with the described disillusionment.

But people are idiosyncratic. Maybe for someone, a life of inscrutable eccentric rebellion against the Gods of practical reality, might actually be deeply meaningful to them - even if they don't admit it.

There are people who are genuinely happy doing the same thing every day. Every day. That is just as strange to me!