
Modern life is complete garbage - president
https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueOffMyChest/comments/b0rgq4/modern_life_is_complete_garbage/
======
avgDev
Modern life is complete garbage, if you can't find something you are
passionate about.

Post like this tend to completely ignore problems of people that came before
us. No pain meds, dying to now curable diseases, slavery and so on. Yes, I
sometimes feel like I don't want to be connected, I don't want to program but
do something that seems more meaningful and that I can see physically and is
not so abstract.

Is the world perfect? No. Is there corruption? Yes. Do farm animals often in
inhumane ways? Yes. Are people selfish? Mostly. However, there is many great
things about the world we live in. I suffer from existential depression but
even I can reflect on the strides we've made as a species to improve our
living conditions.

Plus, living off grid is cool when you are young and not living with medical
conditions.

~~~
lm28469
> Plus, living off grid is cool when you are young and not living with medical
> conditions.

Depends how you see life, I don't think quantity matters as much as quality
here. Maybe living fully for 50 years is bette than dying slowly for 80 years
while busting your ass 5 days a week for a company. Realistically speaking, by
the time the system spits you out to retirement you're physically and mentally
destroyed. (US retirement: 66, avg life expectancy: 78)

A lot of people keep going despite having a (perceived) miserable life because
at the end of the week there is the weekend, and after 6 months there is
vacations, and after a life of work there is retirement. Is that living ? I
don't know, I guess everyone has to find his own answers. I don't think saying
"it's worse in X country / it was worse before / there are good things in the
world" really helps either, you could say that during a bubonic plague
epidemic and it would still be true in a sense. The fact is lots of people
don't feel fulfilled and build up resentment, you don't fix that with words.

Society doesn't encourage you to be passionate about much, just do your work,
watch your netflix, and come back tomorrow. If you're too sick to work we'll
patch you up asap so you can come back and start working again. All that
matters is your productivity and making sure that you send a good chunk of
your income back in the loop. Mental and physical well being aren't a
priority, see the opioid crisis, depression epidemic, obesity epidemic,
pollution, &c.

Thanks god previous generations fought more ferociously than us to work less
and live more, we'd still be working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week otherwise
[0]. The current state of global resignation is deeply disturbing.

"We do not want a world in which the guarantee that we will not die of
starvation is bought by accepting the risk of dying of boredom." Raoul
Vaneigem

[0] [https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/how-the-8-hour-workday-
chang...](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/how-the-8-hour-workday-changed-how-
americans-work.html)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_law)

------
aasasd
While I occasionally see people _estimate_ their truly free time, some folks
apparently did thoroughly time all activities, and their results are way, way
worse than 40 free hours a week.

Alas, I've seen only a second-hand mention of that experiment, and don't have
a link or names. That's also why I don't want to say the exact hours figure
here. I'd like it very much to find a sourced study like this, even if not
really scientific.

------
cr0sh
I don't think modern life is "complete garbage", but I can see the author's
point. I hope he or she can find their way, and be happy, whatever that means
for them.

For myself, one area which I have often thought about is our extreme
"connectivity" \- for lack of a better term. Between my phone and broadband at
home, and broadband here at work (kinda necessary for my job), etc - the
internet and everything is always so much...there.

It used to be you had to make a decision to use it. Fire up the modem. Wait
the time (especially when all I had was a 2400 baud modem, telnet access to a
dialup account, gopher, pine, etc) - get some stuff done then log off.

Today it is so easy to get distracted.

My wife and I often talk about moving from where we currently live (what used
to be "suburbs", but now is surrounded and is old pre-owned housing, mainly
blue-collar neighborhood) - and moving elsewhere, out to one or another far-
flung location where the stars are visible, land is cheap, etc.

My wife always jokes "But what will you do if you don't have high-speed
internet?"

...and a part of me thinks - a part of me that seems to grow every day - a
part of me thinks that would be so great. Just basic internet, or maybe what
I'd get on my phone. Or maybe I'd have to drive into town and stop at the
library or starbucks or something, dither around, check my email, download a
movie or two - then go home.

I'd have so much more free time instead of distraction.

Right now, the only way I can gain this is to be very disciplined, which I
mostly fail at. Losing the ability to have broadband access - it sounds nice.
I also don't think I'd lose much if it happened, either.

But what I'd gain might be the best thing...

~~~
lm28469
> where the stars are visible

I sometimes daydream about that, I think the last time I saw stars clearly was
3 years ago.

We'll all end up like: [https://timeline.com/los-angeles-light-pollution-
ebd60d5acd4...](https://timeline.com/los-angeles-light-pollution-ebd60d5acd43)

I'm also actively planning to move back to a rural area asap. With modern
technology you can be self sufficient in water, electricity, have a super
efficient garden and even get satellite internet for relatively cheap. Get a
freelancing dev project every few months and you'll have more than enough to
live.

------
dragontamer
Hmmm... I lost his point at chores.

People do chores to make our lives simpler, not harder. I do chores so that I
have clothes to wear next week.

If you don't like chores, simply don't do them. You're an adult, its your
responsibility to figure out how to spend your time. For the most part, chores
enable you to live better, more fruitful lives. Chores are 100% my freetime. I
don't like chores either, but failing to do chores means failing to have clean
clothes for tomorrow.

I understand this is a reddit for rants and stuff. But dude... no one is
forcing you to do chores. Just stop doing them if you don't like em. You'll
find out that life is better when you do chores though.

------
bitlax
Lots of room for optimization here.

