My old office in Tampa had this unwritten rule where leaving before 5 felt like a crime. I realized that guilt was really just me giving away free time, like missing my kid's soccer game to stare at a blank screen. That fake presence doesn't help the company, it just trains them to expect you to be always on for no reason. Now I see logging off when done as taking back what I already earned.
Last year, my team finished a huge report by 2 PM on a Wednesday. We all just pretended to work for two extra hours because the boss was still online. I finally closed my laptop at 4 and felt like I was doing something wrong. That fake busy culture is so pointless, it just burns people out. Now I shut things down when my work is done, guilt trip be damned. Took me a while to unlearn that anxiety.