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[West Texas CEO]

I often hear that people today live in luxury compared to people 150, 200, 400 years ago, etc — but why is it so hard to appreciate this luxury without making relative comparisons to only people around us today?
Even the bottom 20% in the US have luxuries that people 200 years ago couldn’t fathom…television, radio, cell phones, internet, cars, modern medicine, fast food, etc, etc.

Why is it so hard to really appreciate modern times knowing how so many people lived for thousands of years?
I find myself getting fixated on little things I don’t have compared to someone else, yet compared to the billions of people that came before me, I have lived like a King from birth.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Because people like to compare against other people.

And if it looks like Bob down the street has a better car or house, some people get jealous. And it doesn't even have to apply to poor person seeing a middle income person. It can be a rich person seeing an uber rich person and the same jealousy can occur.

Add it up and you get an asshole with low self esteem and pissed off other people have more stuff than them. Leads to Depressionville.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Isolation + social media = cancer of the soul.

 

[12Goblins]

 

[Camaway2]

Because 200 years ago you didn't know any better. You were born, grew up and died in your little shitty village as the only reference. Today's expectations are global. The dudes from Minneapolis, Bratislava, Kolkata and Kampala all want the same life.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Because 200 years ago you didn't know any better. You were born, grew up and died in your little shitty village as the only reference. Today's expectations are global. The dudes from Minneapolis, Bratislava, Kolkata and Kampala all want the same life.

Yeah, 200 years ago, we would have had contact with at most a couple of dozen people on any kind of regular basis. Probably 5-10 on a daily or weekly basis and the rest monthly or less.

Even before social media those numbers were greatly increased given the relatively crowded way most of us lived, and especially for those of us who worked outside their home. Since social media, we can get a visually appealing and detailed view of how dozens of people live in a few minutes. That's a lot of fuel for comparing our own lives, lol

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

If we would have less we might value smaller things higher.

 

[///PATRIOT]

Isolation + social media = cancer of the soul.

+ secularism - family union

 

[Outlier]

The world is at our fingertips and we don't know what to do with it...

Ignorance is bliss and all.

 

[AJUMP23]

Lack of perspective. Lack of purpose.

 

[daveonezero]

It is funny that there is a book and philosophy that talks about how all these material things and desires of the flesh will never fulfill you.

Yet that book is discounted any time it is brought up.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Mindset too.

For all you older Gaffers with parents who immigrated after the wars dirt poor and knowing zero English, what they all strived for was survival and starting over. My old ass parents and other uncles/aunts who eventually came over did fine.

A few tings in common.

- Started poor
- Succeeded through hard work and school
- Lead to good jobs and nice homes worth a lot of money now
- AND STILL ALL THE CHEAPEST FUCKS YOU'LL EVER MEET

They dont give one shit about keeping up with the Jones. Go into each house and it's cruddy and all have drove pretty basic cars. Even though they could afford nice cars and sweetly renovated homes, they dont give a shit. They'd rather hoard money and passed it on in wills even though my siblings and I have done well and tell them we dont want you money. Go blow it on trips. Nope. They'd rather keep it in the family.

Modern day people make good money, have ridiculous low loan and mortgage rates (back in the early 80s every parent had like 14% mortgage rates), yet lots of them go on pissing contests who has the best iPhone or Nikes and who can go on the most trips to Aruba. Then when some cant afford to copy, they get depressed. Even just 40 years ago I dont think the average person bragged about what kind of new tv or microwave they got to everyone they know.

Back in the day. People wanted to do better for survival.
Modern day. People want to do better for sake of just having more luxury shit.

 

[synchronicity]

Because, for most people, the mind is a curse. It can be a useful tool, but for so many, it's better for the mind to have less freedom. Survival was, for most of human existence, the most pressing and constant concern, and the mind had no "free time", so to speak. All suffering exists within the mind. Where do all of your problems go when in deepest non-REM sleep? They vanish altogether, don't they. The mind awakens, and, surprise, all of the problems return. Think less, do more, and problems/depression/etc are minimal.

 

[FunkMiller]

It is funny that there is a book and philosophy that talks about how all these material things and desires of the flesh will never fulfill you.

Yet that book is discounted any time it is brought up.

So very true:

 

[Wildebeest]

People always want more and more to feel they are doing good. Can't chase happiness like that. I think great sages of the past like Bill Murray and Michael Jackson taught us that.

 

[Aesius]

Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes into play.

Take the average depressed middle-aged suburbanite. They've absolutely got all of their physiological needs met. Their safety needs are also almost certainly met, although there's always some low-lying anxiety about employment, money, and health. Their love and belonging needs are probably met, unless they're stuck in a loveless marriage/relationship.

For most people in the Western world, their problems start in the "Esteem" category. They don't feel respected at work or school. They don't like themselves. They feel unaccomplished, mundane, and average. They may feel powerless politically and societally. But I don't think it's fair to downplay those needs. They are still needs. They just aren't as pressing as hunger, thirst, sleep, etc. But they still matter.

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible for people to meet those needs because of constant comparison with others. It's a never-ending hamster wheel of needing more money, more success, more recognition, more clout, more status. And ironically, chasing those needs tends to negatively impact the needs below them, which are more important. People work themselves out of otherwise good marriages. Their kids grow up barely knowing them. They have stress-related illnesses, heart attacks, and strokes. They forgo sleep.

Life would be a lot easier if everyone could look at their personal hierarchy of needs like a Sims character and see which meters needed to be filled and which, when empty or approaching empty, actually had the biggest impacts on their lives.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

A general lack of meaningfulness in modern society. Shallow relationships, unfulfilling careers. We use entertainment to fill this void in our hearts but we lack purpose.

 

[Lady Bird]

People are depressed because our lives aren't as good as we think they are. Poor diet, lack of exercise/mobility, pollution, isolation, social media, etc. Our lives are actually pretty shitty, but we're under the impression that they're not, usually due to advanced medicine + confortable homes + internet.

Try to go for higher-quality food, get a bike, spend more time in contact with nature or with people in real-life, stuff like that, and you'll notice a huge difference. Your days won't feel as empty.

 

[Hakiroto]

It's many things but one, for sure, is how people constantly compare themselves, their lives, and what they have with others. These others, for the most part, are people they don't even know, too. Bigger houses, better cars, newer models of products, and seemingly perfect lives. It's not often you see people completely content with their life and what they have because bigger and better is often being stuffed down their throat on social media. Nobody is taught to enjoy what they have and what you see more often than not is people buying something and then not even enjoying it because they're so worried the next model is right around the corner or going on a holiday and spending all their time worrying that they only have a few days left before they have to go home.

One quote that works quite well here is from the Dalai Lama:

We need to learn to want what we have, not to have what we want, in order to get stable and steady happiness.

There are clearly many things affecting this but mindfulness, deeper connections with others, a better diet, and more exercise would surely help a lot of people.

 

[Halo is Back]

Because money can not inherently buy you happiness, it sure makes poor people's problems go away but it also creates a new set of problems. Take the guy who made Minecraft for example. He eventually sold it to MS for over 2B and later admitted that he was depressed despite his lavish lifestyle and crazy house parties. He truly felt like he had no friends. Only people who exploited him for his wealthy lifestyle.

No matter the advancements in our society or personal lives, there are always negatives associated with them. Some people solely focus on thier careers and make bank but later in life; they find out they want a romantic partner. It leaves a hole in thier lives because now the reality of the biological clock is ticking in their heads, thus increasing thier anxiety of finding a partner.

It's too easy to compare ourselves to other people, and expectations are much higher for children in first-world countries.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's many things but one, for sure, is how people constantly compare themselves, their lives, and what they have with others. These others, for the most part, are people they don't even know, too. Bigger houses, better cars, newer models of products, and seemingly perfect lives. It's not often you see people completely content with their life and what they have because bigger and better is often being stuffed down their throat on social media. Nobody is taught to enjoy what they have and what you see more often than not is people buying something and then not even enjoying it because they're so worried the next model is right around the corner or going on a holiday and spending all their time worrying that they only have a few days left before they have to go home.

One quote that works quite well here is from the Dalai Lama:



There are clearly many things affecting this but mindfulness, deeper connections with others, a better diet, and more exercise would surely help a lot of people.

Everyone has different desires, and sometimes it has to do with impressing people.

Here's a real life example:

I have a deck in my backyard that is really ratty. It's even got some planks of wood that are chipped up and a railing piece fell apart. A couple years ago, wasps or bees or some shit were swarming the top pieces of wood and literally burrowing into it for whatever fuck reason. No doubt it's a sketchy looking deck.

Personally, I dont give a shit. I still sit out there and even BBQ on it even when those insects were zipping around. I plugged those holes with wood filler and they went away. LOL. And I have people come over and sit on this dinged up patio. Depression level is zero.

Now other people in the same situation might go ape shit because if they're going to have a deck, they want it new, awesome and perfect. If it's not, they get pissy and embarrassed if people come over and see a shitty deck. Their priority is finding time and money asap to redo it one summer.

Who's right? Me being fine with it? Or people who want a nicer looking deck? Probably nobody is right or wrong. But one side cares a lot about a deck or they feel shit.

 

[p_xavier]

Everyone has different desires, and sometimes it has to do with impressing people.

Here's a real life example:

I have a deck in my backyard that is really ratty. It's even got some planks of wood that are chipped up and a railing piece fell apart. A couple years ago, wasps or bees or some shit were swarming the top pieces of wood and literally burrowing into it for whatever fuck reason. No doubt it's a sketchy looking deck.

Personally, I dont give a shit. I still sit out there and even BBQ on it even when those insects were zipping around. I plugged those holes with wood filler and they went away. LOL. And I have people come over and sit on this dinged up patio. Depression level is zero.

Now other people in the same situation might go ape shit because if they're going to have a deck, they want it new, awesome and perfect. If it's not, they get pissy and embarrassed if people come over and see a shitty deck. Their priority is finding time and money asap to redo it one summer.

Who's right? Me being fine with it? Or people who want a nicer looking deck? Probably nobody is right or wrong. But one side cares a lot about a deck or they feel shit.

I'm getting mine redone because I don't like the shade colour of it. Mind you I'm your typical case of major anxiety that you refer too. In my case it's also a make do project because besides getting high or drunk, I need things to pass time.

Anyways, I'll probably die soon enough, I'd rather enjoy a nice deck and be proud of what I have.

 

[jufonuk]

It is funny that there is a book and philosophy that talks about how all these material things and desires of the flesh will never fulfill you.

Yet that book is discounted any time it is brought up.

The Joy of less by Marie Kondo ?

 

[Ememee]

Because we live like Kings.

 

[p_xavier]

The Joy of less by Marie Kondo ?

That is absolute bullshit way of life. I used to be a minimalist, and for sure I'm more happy in a big house full of junk that I might never use, and I'm not joking. Having kayaks, paddle boards, arcades for friends, shitload of movies and stuff sure is better than minimize my lifestyle. Hoarders I can understand they need less, but for everyone else, less is not more.

 

[Star-Lord]

Living a life of luxury is really only made possible by having a good income or coming from a rich family. Having money doesn’t necessarily make you happy. You could be a millionaire and be surrounded by fake friends and false well-wishers, and you could still feel like the loneliest person on the planet. Real happiness, genuine joy, comes from being surrounded by true friends and close family.

 

[Taxexemption]

Most young people work soul crushing jobs that will not allow them to ever own anything or have any social status. You spend all of this time working and getting nowhere, and what is the social scene like these days? Where is your community at? With people moving around for work constantly even if you have friends as an adult you are likely to lose a lot of them, and if you don't have easy access to some kind of community then you could end up isolated. Add to that all of the Covid stuff, it shut down most of the churches and in my area they still aren't even back to doing potlucks or any event other than an actual church service.


Global economics and the internet has killed any prospect for community that might exist in a lot of the world. Why would anyone ever want to be your friend when there are millions of people more attractive and interesting than you on the internet? Even when you make friends how long are they going to be in your area for? Most of my childhood friends have moved out of my area for economic or other reasons. Other friends I made in the mean time did the same.


I currently have what I consider to be a fairly good job, one where I might actually be able to own a home, but the amount of soul crushing work I had to do to get here in my opinion is absolutely insane. I think we have created a society where at least in certain parts it takes a herculean effort to make a decent living, to the point that I think the average person is not capable of it. I mean that sincerely, if you get up early and dedicate yourself to this goal, a lot of people are not gonna make it. Unless something changes, they will live their entire lives basically as peasants, unappreciated, uncared for, despised even.


The average teenager today has parents that were too busy for them, and love their job more than they love their kids. They are uncared for, unloved, unappreciated, and unparented. They are completely unprepared to go into the working world. In past you were a person in a place with a story. You are now a util, and for many even their parents will treat them as such. You are a util, you gotta pump your numbers up or nobody cares. You pump them up good enough for people to care, and you realize they are treating you like an appliance.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Community is dead in many places. Religion is becoming a footnote. The extended family is less important. For better and worse, as there might not be the same pressure to fit in. But it's not natural for us.

 

[West Texas CEO]

It is funny that there is a book and philosophy that talks about how all these material things and desires of the flesh will never fulfill you.

Yet that book is discounted any time it is brought up.

spend more time in contact with nature

This is extremely underrated. Living in concrete jungles can have an adverse effect over time; people need to remember that.
It's why Russians living in commie blocks drink so damn much.

 

[megamerican]

I think people are lonely, expecting to have a worse lifestyle than their parents, seeing the world change for the worse at the benefit of a few, and having only very bland modern entertainment to escape into.

 

[RJMacready73]

Cause of this bitch and moronic celeb worshipping fuckcunts, personally they can all go and jump into the sea, but if your depressed cause you can't match their lifestyle or photoshopped look you need slapped

If you have your health, have loved ones around you and a roof over your head then consider yourself blessed and stop fucking whingin, think how Mohammed up some mountain pass in Pastun feels when trying to keep warm when the snows come in or some hut dweller in northern Nigeria feels when the rebels come storming into his village with machetes swinging.. fucking depressed... You lot don't know real depression

 

[p_xavier]

Community is dead in many places. Religion is becoming a footnote. The extended family is less important. For better and worse, as there might not be the same pressure to fit in. But it's not natural for us.

Community is still alive in small towns. I don't get governments that want to continue insane immigration rates, at the expense of the current residents. Canada will be adding half a million people per year where housing is already among the most expensive in the world, cities refuse densification, and there are bylaws to restrict zoning to residences. Where the fuck these people will go and how can you get a sense of belonging where there is no central culture and no purpose?

 

[Taxexemption]

Cause of this bitch and moronic celeb worshipping fuckcunts, personally they can all go and jump into the sea, but if your depressed cause you can't match their lifestyle or photoshopped look you need slapped

If you have your health, have loved ones around you and a roof over your head then consider yourself blessed and stop fucking whingin, think how Mohammed up some mountain pass in Pastun feels when trying to keep warm when the snows come in or some hut dweller in northern Nigeria feels when the rebels come storming into his village with machetes swinging.. fucking depressed... You lot don't know real depression

The amount of people that don't have anything they would call a "Loved one" is huge. If I meet someone who has a good relationship with both their parents I'm like "Huh, you mean your parents didn't get divorced, they don't hate each other, and they didn't kick you out of the house the moment you turned 18 or even earlier? What's that like?"

 

[godhandiscen]

Ehh this movie was so propaganda ridden, it was disgusting.

“You see ungrateful sheep!!! You have everything to be happy!!! Why would you criticize your corporation masters? We could be as atrocious as the caricature characters in the movie, you must thank us!”

How about free health care? Free education? Housing availability? Public transit on par with the rest of the first world? Better laws against nepotism? A government that treats you like an adult? I could go on forever.

I often hear that people today live in luxury compared to people 150, 200, 400 years ago, etc — but why is it so hard to appreciate this luxury without making relative comparisons to only people around us today?
Even the bottom 20% in the US have luxuries that people 200 years ago couldn’t fathom…television, radio, cell phones, internet, cars, modern medicine, fast food, etc, etc.

Why is it so hard to really appreciate modern times knowing how so many people lived for thousands of years?
I find myself getting fixated on little things I don’t have compared to someone else, yet compared to the billions of people that came before me, I have lived like a King from birth.

Yes individuals have it much better than in the past, but having a super computer in your pocket doesn’t make up for the fact that a lot of people are a major health emergency from being homeless, or just simply cannot climb the social ladder due to a lack of opportunities. These anxieties wear down individuals. And no, I don’t think that the political posers who claim they’ll fix things this time will do jack shit after 100+ years of tackling the same problem and failing all the time.

 

[FunkMiller]

spend more time in contact with nature

This is so incredibly true. My mental health is always better when I’m back in Australia (especially where my oz family are from in far North Queensland) because there’s more room, less people, better weather, and more opportunity to get outside and fuck some spiders be in nature. London slowly turns me mad after a while because it’s so crammed with people and buildings, and shit house weather.

Never underestimate the positive effect of being able to see the horizon.

 

[godhandiscen]

People are depressed because our lives aren't as good as we think they are. Poor diet, lack of exercise/mobility, pollution, isolation, social media, etc. Our lives are actually pretty shitty, but we're under the impression that they're not, usually due to advanced medicine + confortable homes + internet.

Try to go for higher-quality food, get a bike, spend more time in contact with nature or with people in real-life, stuff like that, and you'll notice a huge difference. Your days won't feel as empty.

I agree with this. A lot of propaganda goes into convincing us of fake goals that should be attained to achieve happiness (live in the city, buy the latest shoes, get the new console!!), when in reality they are just carrots on a stick driving consumerism.

Those van life nomads look as happy as anybody. I just worry there is no retirement plan there.

 

[HoodWinked]

Hedonic treadmill

 

[zeorhymer]

Post modernism

 

[bender]

idle hands

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[poppabk]

It is funny that there is a book and philosophy that talks about how all these material things and desires of the flesh will never fulfill you.

Yet that book is discounted any time it is brought up.

Can I learn about this book and it's message of being humble here?

Or maybe here?

Or maybe I can wait for one of these experts on this book to fly out to me on their second backup private jet?

 

[CrankyJay™]

Because we’ll always want more.

Pain comes from wanting things.

 

[Aesius]

I think people are lonely, expecting to have a worse lifestyle than their parents, seeing the world change for the worse at the benefit of a few, and having only very bland modern entertainment to escape into.

This is definitely true for millennials IMO. I envy my parents' generation so much. Raising kids in the 80s and 90s was much easier than it is today. Significantly cheaper, too. The younger boomers who avoided Vietnam quite honestly had the best lives of any generation in history IMO. The post-WW2 world was designed to cater to their every need. And it's still that way.

 

[JayK47]

People are social creatures that need to be outdoors. Sitting in front of a screen all days and not interacting with people in person is going to have side effects.

 

[haxan7]

Too much evil and confusion in our world leading people astray. Some would say it’s an age old battle.

 

[nush]

because...

 

[Billbofet]

Social media, the internet/entertainment, technology all pull us away from what is right in front of us and track, measure, and stack our metrics directly against each other.
It's no wonder it's harder to make friends and build community - which is all that really matters - when the expectation is always perfection.
The current system makes it easier to point out the flaws in others to make ourselves feel better than looking inward or being tolerant/accepting.

 

[Come On Tars]

Comparison is the thief of joy. Also add that many aren't filling biological needs for exercise, like not taking your dog for a walk and expecting that to be fine.

 

[SlimySnake]

lol what? millennials are underpaid compared to their parents when adjusted for inflation. Their net worth is lower. They are living with their parents far longer than Gen X did. They took a lot longer to buy houses compared to their parents.

Wages have stagnated. You look at the minimum wage today and what it was in the 60s and it is not even close. It should be around $20 when adjusted for inflation.

There IS a lot of wealth in the country. There is a reason why mobile games make $2 billion a year. Why fortnite and Genshin impact make $3 billion a year, but its almost all whales. The wealth is concentrated into a tiny portion of the overall population. I once read that only around 1.5% of the people who played the most popular mobile game ever spent money on it. Thats your wealth.

Now I dont know if being underpaid and struggling financially is causing depression. Depression is a weird one. Causes are numerous and not always tied to financial ruin. From what i have seen, depression is hereditary and when its not, it almost always stems from poor parenting or from some kind of unresolved childhood trauma. Hate to blame the boomers for this, but our parents were boomers and a lot of them did come back all fucked up from Vietnam. Just like how their parents came back all fucked up from the two wars.

I do think that the millenials are a bunch of whiny little babies but a lot of that is due to us having a platform our parents simply never did. I have seen older people bitch about everything from the government to the younger generation and the economy. They are just as chatty. We just dominate the social media right now. Lets not forget it was our uncles who were forwarding those dumb fucking emails in the early days of the internet. They are also the ones who ruined facebook by politicizing it. before them, Facebook was so much fun. The early days of facebook was a godsend for chatting up girls you met in college. Now it's just a hangout for the boomers who have no idea how to have fun anymore in their old age.

Give me an option between twitter and facebook, and id pick twitter in a heart beat.

 

[GeekyDad]

...Why is it so hard to really appreciate...

Age-old question, ain't it...