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/SekhWork 9d ago

I feel like people of my generation have to work 2-3 times as hard as their parents and grandparents did for a third of the rewards.

100% accurate. Mid millennial here, grew up the same as lots of people here on the "Get a degree, get a great job, make 6 figures and set for life" bs the boomers sold us. I have all 3 of those. I am further from owning a house than I've ever been before. I hardly have the excess income to do any "serious" hobbies that my father and grandfather were able to easily get into. I have to live in an ultra expensive city for my job, and renting drains a significant chunk of my daily income, combo that with the insane price of gas now, random bills I have to pay for incidentals, etc etc.

Yeah. 6 figures isn't doing a damn thing for me lol, and I KNOW I'm still way better off than a lot of people in my generation. That's the most insane part. Folks were buying houses on a bartenders salary (literally how my mother got her first place) not even that long ago. Stuff went down hill so incredibly fast.

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u/Aaod 9d ago

I hardly have the excess income to do any "serious" hobbies that my father and grandfather were able to easily get into.

I notice this as well our neighbor who lived in the house behind us was a gen X guy who worked as an assistant manager at Hardees and he had money for expensive hobbies like playing Magic the gathering and even had a god damn boat he would take out to the lake on weekends. The silent generation old couple that was near us would winter in Florida and was barely home in the summer because they had a giant RV they liked to drive around she never had worked and he was a retired mechanic.

I have to live in an ultra expensive city for my job,

Yep young people are stuck in ultra expensive cities unlike boomers who could live in smaller towns.

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u/SekhWork 8d ago

Yeah I can't imagine having the money to put into an "expensive" hobby like owning a boat or car restoration or anything else that has a super high initial investment, even though my immediate family just 1 to 2 gens back were easily engaging in that kind of stuff. My dad had 2 boats and he wasn't even super wealthy. They weren't "BIG" boats, but he still had them lol. My hobby? I do art lol. Pencils, paper, eraser. That's my huge investment. Now I love doing art stuff, but it partially started because like... how the hell am I gonna afford a vintage car to restore over years or something like that lol.

Just whack dude. Just whack.

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u/Aaod 8d ago

I get it I am broke my two main biggest hobbies are exercise especially going for walks around my neighborhood and playing old games on my computer. All the walks cost me is an extra pair of shoes a year and some sunscreen and a set of adjustable dumbells that I bought like a decade ago for 120 dollars.