American Life Is Wonderful. People Just Spend Too Much Time Online.

Today’s spiritual crisis isn’t about society failing to give us meaning. It’s about asking it to do what it never could.

A few days ago, I posted a tweet that made the rounds. It pointed out how half the posts online describe an almost unimaginably high level of comfort—job, house, spouse, kids, bulk goods at wholesale prices—and then conclude: “but it sucks.”

And listen, I’ve seen the movies from the late ’90s. I know what the disaffection genre looks like. But what’s going on now is different. It’s louder. Angrier. Less coherent. It doesn’t seem to want anything—except to feel something.

The tone reminded me of something, and the more I thought about it, the more it all started to connect: American Beauty. Fight Club. Office Space. The era when being unhappy in the suburbs was a cinematic event. The last time misery was cool.