No - focus on communication that adds value to your company and your career. Don't get sucked into distractions. Spend your time aligning yourself with projects, ideas, people etc that will boost your career
Is isn't 2018 any more. Don't ramble about off topic casual stuff somewhere where it's all kept on record and easily viewable by your boss (and if your boss isn't invited to the channels, what do you think they'll think when they find out all their employees have lots of 'rambling' channels?). What if HR gets wind of this during the next planned RIF? Your job is to add value to the company
Take your project ideas etc directly to your boss. Don't let other people steal them
Join a non-work Slack group for this kind of socialising
(It's late, apologies for a random collection of thoughts)
One key bit of missing information from your post: do you have 1 year, 2 year, 3 years+ savings? And can you deal with the salary hit (you'll very likely get a new job with a much lower salary)?
I quit a few weeks ago – I was being pushed out. It was not fun. I'm still processing how much psychological warfare was really going on and how much I was being gaslit.
I was going to do some travelling but I can't stop looking at my budgeting spreadsheet. But luckily it's summer and where I live is quite nice.
I'm still in recovery mode. Some health issues have already resolved themselves. I've lost ~8 pounds. I'm sleeping better.
What is keeping me sane is that I knew the job, the environment, my colleagues etc was seriously not working and I would have got fired anyway.
Luckily my family can help me out a little bit each month, and I'm thinking of getting a housemate, both of which will reduce my burn rate massively.
I have enjoyed re-evaluating my spending. It was a bit out of control. I was getting fat eating too much expensive food/takeout etc. I'm cooking more.
It feels weird being away from the computer. I feel like I should be learning more AI/interview prep etc. Like every moment not doing that is further damaging my future. Ugh. But I've also massively lost my love for tech. I need to find out if I can rediscover it
I wish I had watched a lot more Jordan Peterson etc a year ago. He touches a lot on having a plan, not just giving up, really contemplating the future, explaining poverty isn't fun, analytically working backwards from your problems etc. It's like the advice my father might have given me if I had one. I think I have mental health issues that affected my work, rather than my job being the sole source of all my mental health issues.
Ultimately it really is trading one set of stresses and issues for another, I feel.