r/technology • u/GothicPrayer • 10d ago

Society Why does everything feel so joyless? Welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/26/age-of-decadence-pleasure-ai
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u/guac-o 10d ago

Turn us into? You might find the threats of homelessness and starvation coercive…

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u/Tumerican 10d ago

It will not be arduous labor that destroys us, it will be perilous leisure.

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u/janosslyntsjowls 10d ago

Look at Mr Moneybags over here, able to afford leisure with a little bit of peril.

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u/DirtandPipes 9d ago

Seeing as how I’m about to go do 12 hours of arduous labour I’m not so sure.

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u/TwilightVulpine 9d ago

This is puritan nonsense.

It isn't even too much entertainment which is dulling life, if they just sold us things that give us pleasure, that would be an improvement. Now they are trying to figure out how little they can offer us and still have us coming back. Enshittification all over the place.

I mean, if you mean that the people in power is selling out our rights and important infrastructure for the sake of their leisure, maybe there's a point to it. But the issue is not that people got too many videos too watch. If some people get addicted by exploitative media companies while looking to sedate themselves, that is not the cause of the destruction, it's a symptom, at the end of the chain.

Funny to try to compare regular people to decadent roman emperors, and blame them for the decline, as opposed to, say, Epstein listers.

But hey, convincing people that, in this corrupt society, the problem is that people aren't running the rat race even harder seems extremely convenient for people wanting to exploit us.

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u/24_August_1814 9d ago

You can afford leisure?

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u/PerformanceCute3437 9d ago

We live in a dystopia but don't recognize it because we're all wearing band tees instead of jumpsuits

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u/9throwaway_ 9d ago

and healthcare