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.

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

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.

The fucking world is burning, Nazis are back, we’re about to be eradicated by ai, food shortages, fuel prices rising, people can’t afford to live, racism and bigotry is on the rise and seems to be protected, corporations are working us to death, governments are actively trying to remove our rights… There’s a fuck tonne of reasons to be angry and tried now.

I promise to be more vibrant just as soon as I get a good night’s sleep.

I think you underestimate the amount of alcohol consumed in the 70s and 80s.

I’m in my 40s and I feel very tired. My bones are rattling already, way too early. Migraine once a month. I used to think I’m depressed, but really I’m not, just tired. And soo many of the people I know feel the same! Some put it down to long Covid, some say it’s the vaccines, some call it chronic fatigue, some call it other things. But many are tired. And angry, because when I was very young I fought against environmental destruction, grownups told me to stop or go to jail, and look where we are now, while the very same thing is still happening!

For me it’s the polycrisis: the knowledge that things are most probably going to get worse for many people before they get better. Like some bad vibe in the background, while one still has to try to survive every day, which gets harder and harder. I’m earning half of what I used to while everything is twice as expensive, go figure. And I’m one of the lucky ones, with a setup that enables me to work less hours than average.

Also someone mentioned CO2 one of these days, and not to forget the heat - that might be why my brain really doesn’t work very well anymore.

Goes outside, gestures at everything

You are seeing the effects of late stage capitalism.

People working 2 jobs and still not have as much disposable income as they had with a single income in the past.

Not having money aside of the work, no time and mental load: it kills motivation, not wanting to be creative, and your health goes downhill also and you can’t afford to treat it anyway.

If you ask a 50 something about how long they think have left, yo will have half the amount than 2 generations ago.

Everything is on fire …

Smartphones, social media and uncontrolled capitalism at work.

People today are boring as fuck and addicted to phones and being enraged at disinformation.

It’s entirely possible this is just attentional bias on your part. You noticed the more vibrant, active adults when you were younger because they were more interesting to you.

But generally, things are worse these days, too. I feel like people used to talk about the future optimistically when I was growing up. Maybe people still talk to kids that way now, but I don’t. And I don’t hear people doing it. So, maybe you’re on to something here.

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Being dumb and drunk is not new to humanity

I know exactly how you feel. However, I have recently encountered a number of very young, highly intelligent people who are indeed vibrant and actually do give me some hope for the future (EDIT: both of whom, it turns out, are in the healthcare profession, so maybe there will actually be some people left to take care of me and Mrs. Erinaceus as we decline—dare to dream!) But otherwise, yeah, capitalism, late or otherwise, the aftermath of 2008, and the pandemic—many of these things are still slowly draining the life force out of older folks like me.