I think, the problem is actually deeper in the society. From what I could observe, once the our basic food/shelter needs are satisfied, we humans have an inherent need for long-term goals. Like slowly progressing one's career, or growing one's small business. Self-actualization, something to put your passion into.
For instance, I myself am running a bootstrapped software business, draw immense positive energy from seeing satisfied customers and feeling that I'm the person that made it possible.
As far as I can see, due to commoditization of most labor (better organization, moving of production offshore), it is becoming harder and harder for people to self-actualize professionally. It's hard to draw personal satisfaction from driving Ubers all day or being a cog in a corporate machine. You perfectly know that one day you can be replaced by a fresh graduate with a minimal training who would do just as fine. You can no longer have a self-identity as "the best baker in town", because most people buy bread from a supermarket. There are certainly artists, video bloggers, etc, but it's a tiny percentage of the population and it pays a fraction of what the soul-crushing corporate jobs do.
So, since people cannot self-actualize professionally, they seek it elsewhere. Since the West has a culture of openness and acceptance to all kinds of minorities and subcultures, many people's self-identity becomes their belonging to a certain social group and their feeling of self-growth comes from having others acknowledge their point of view. Except, this is a zero-sum game: instead of creating value for those who need it, people begin competing for other's attention and alignment.
For instance, if I am selling ice cream and the guy across the road is selling chocolate cakes, we're at peace with each other because whoever wants ice cream will come to me and whoever wants chocolate cakes will come across the road. But if I go on a crusade trying to convince everyone that ice cream is the only correct desert, while my neighbor does the same for chocolate cakes, we quickly become political enemies intolerant of each other.
To sum it up, if you want to fix it for yourself, put your passion into something that creates value rather than aims at redistributing it, and you will feel much better. This would be extremely hard in the current economy though, and yes, it feels sucky because the previous generations sort of had it for granted. I've no idea how to fix it globally.
For instance, I myself am running a bootstrapped software business, draw immense positive energy from seeing satisfied customers and feeling that I'm the person that made it possible.
As far as I can see, due to commoditization of most labor (better organization, moving of production offshore), it is becoming harder and harder for people to self-actualize professionally. It's hard to draw personal satisfaction from driving Ubers all day or being a cog in a corporate machine. You perfectly know that one day you can be replaced by a fresh graduate with a minimal training who would do just as fine. You can no longer have a self-identity as "the best baker in town", because most people buy bread from a supermarket. There are certainly artists, video bloggers, etc, but it's a tiny percentage of the population and it pays a fraction of what the soul-crushing corporate jobs do.
So, since people cannot self-actualize professionally, they seek it elsewhere. Since the West has a culture of openness and acceptance to all kinds of minorities and subcultures, many people's self-identity becomes their belonging to a certain social group and their feeling of self-growth comes from having others acknowledge their point of view. Except, this is a zero-sum game: instead of creating value for those who need it, people begin competing for other's attention and alignment.
For instance, if I am selling ice cream and the guy across the road is selling chocolate cakes, we're at peace with each other because whoever wants ice cream will come to me and whoever wants chocolate cakes will come across the road. But if I go on a crusade trying to convince everyone that ice cream is the only correct desert, while my neighbor does the same for chocolate cakes, we quickly become political enemies intolerant of each other.
To sum it up, if you want to fix it for yourself, put your passion into something that creates value rather than aims at redistributing it, and you will feel much better. This would be extremely hard in the current economy though, and yes, it feels sucky because the previous generations sort of had it for granted. I've no idea how to fix it globally.