While most of the comments are correctly pointing out the late-stage capitalism as the main culprit, I must add something I didn’t see mentioned: COVID-19 pandemic.

To me, a Zennial, it was the main once-in-a-generation disgrace event. I still clearly remember the days when I began reading about a “mysterious pneumonia-like disease noticed among the patients from an ophthalmologist in Wuhan”, the first cases reported in South Korea, all the way to the outbreak in Italy, then World Health Organization finally declaring it a pandemic in March 11th 2020 (I can’t forget this specific date, either).

COVID-19 left so many marks. Emotional, as millions died from it; biological, as many who survived lived or are still living with the “Long COVID-19 syndrome”; and also societal, as it fundamentally shaped society as we know it.

I feel like I was never the same after I first got COVID-19. It’s as if my entire existence became split between “before 2020” and “after 2020”.

Maybe, just maybe, one of the explanations would be that SARS-CoV-2 is known to affect more than the respiratory system, it can also affect the brain. SARS-CoV-2 or not, the pandemic truly messed up with our brains as a society, I became sort of traumatized by it and so were countless other people, especially from my generation, because we spend a significant part of our adulthood with a world struggling to fight a virus. It was also the first time we experienced the concept of quarantine/lockdown (I was already an introvert person who’s accustomed with staying indoors, but the pandemic messed up with my graduation because I couldn’t elaborate my thesis, let alone present it, until I ended up giving up of a bachelor degree).

So, if I were to guess, the disgraces that followed up to nowadays, including the late-stage capitalism, seem to be heavily tied to that pandemic six years ago (which I remember as if it were yesterday).

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It just really feels like there is no future. Just grinding to live day by day. What’s the point?

Wouldn’t be suprised if the borderline criminalization of being a child outside starting 10-30 years ago played a role in this.

Covid gives us brain damage. Brain damage is often subtle. It doesn’t usually manifest as drooling in the corner. For instance, one of the most common signs of brain damage is fatigue.

I mean it’s simple.

Everyone is worried even if they don’t say so.

Technology has been shoved down our throats. Now there’s llms; this is referencing something simple like getting bot calls on a daily basis for a pretend “human” to get transferred to “John” with a thick Indian accent.

It’s hot outside. I remember having to wear a jacket in the winter, and now I want to take my skin off.

Video games were fun or challenging; now they’re pay to win.

Playing in the backyard isn’t cool anymore because 'gotta keep up with the other kids on their phones and so forth.

Depends on where you’re at; anger? High levels of CO2 cause that. The fun factor about global warming that isn’t often discussed. Having parking lots of cars at stop lights makes this worse. It gets worse when stores cut back on AC and filtration.

The political spectrum is well on a spectrum; so the confidence is gone there.

All of these aspects exhaust people. Especially advertising on every corner.

This has been dawning on me as well.

Aside from all the things people are mentioning, my take on it: culture, at least in the U.S., has stopped. If a person finds something to be excited about, they do so in spite of their government that should otherwise be helping them flourish. We try to find joy in spite of the profound inequitable conditions that are celebrated by the elite. We have to give up a third of our paychecks to fund pointless destruction and slaughter overseas, and lavish lifestyles for our feckless politicians and federally-subsidized billionaires at home.

What collective identity can we develop under these conditions? We only find an identity defined by anger. Hatred. Resentment. We must constantly experience these feelings in order to remain grounded in reality; they are the only way we can stay in touch with the truth of things.

I’m sure it’s been articulated better elsewhere, but I’m starting to think that’s a big part of fascism: the death of culture, the destruction of what we could otherwise draw hope from. Fascism says that everything people cherish and find self-actualization in is sinful and aberrant, but offers nothing to replace them except hollow parodies of culture. In the current moment, it’s either Christian white nationalist parodies of culture (just look at literally any creative work they make; they are soulless and hollow) or AI-generated slop culture.

We’re also living through something pretty unprecedented: corporate technofascism. History has never seen fascism breed with the kind of unchecked capitalist insanity that will come to define this era. There are a thousand digital barriers between you and real life, and you are told you should be happy and excited about such “innovation” when it’s been 10 years since there was anything to be excited about.

That’s my distilled diatribe on this idea.

Look at the cars. You used to see a lot of brightly colored cars on the street. Even simple family cars and minivans were red, or bright green, or even purple. Now everything on the road is beige/dull silver.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” wasn’t normalizing toxicity, it was training us to be able to deal with assholes. I think the world has forgotten that.

We’re fucking tired, man. We’re in debt, behind on bills and having to work more than since the depression.

Capitalism late stage is draining everyone. Also the fascism.

No, you are not wrong. The USA is being punished for her crimes. Capitalism is failing, Democracy is rearing its ugly side, traditional values are proving empty, religion is falling flat, race has its ugly side displayed for all to see, patriots cant relate to their national identity anymore. The USA is cannibalising itself. This makes it to where people are losing their future, desperately trying to keep what is familiar, and overall reaching a state of hopelessness/powerlessness.

Everyone is socially stunted because of internet addiction

This is really obvious to me, but this is what happens to society when conservatives are actually in power.

There will always be people who try to be merry in hard times, but it actually crushes people everywhere.

I think all the appeals to preserve “whimsy” in recent years lends credence to your observation.