Modernity, The Feeling of
I want to begin by saying that this post, this thought process, and these general findings and advice we refer to as The Commons Guide rest firmly in the context of the modern United States. Many aspects apply also to other service-based neoliberal economies, and some still apply to more industrial economies and developing nations. But when we refer to “modernity,” we should keep in mind we are largely referring to “modern America.”
I acknowledge this as a limitation, but I also hope to grow and adjust this movement as members from more diverse (geographically and otherwise) backgrounds join their voices in the chorus.
In future discussions we’ll dig into what we even mean by “modernity,” look at what that word means in different contexts, analyze it in comparison to “post-modernism,” and trace specific historical underpinnings that give context to what we have now. To start, though, I simply want to use “modernity” as a set piece, or even a more simplistic backdrop against which we place our current, collective headspace.
In other words: what are the vibes like right now?
They’re not great. Not great for most of us.
We can look at this through a number of different lenses. For example, age and generation:
The eldest of us (we’ll say the Silent and Baby Boomer generations) are facing a culture that is increasingly hostile to them and is increasingly foreign to “the good ol’ days” many pine for.
Those of us in the middle (Gen X and Millennials) are exhausted on the treadmills of hustle culture, increasingly giving up on life milestones like buying a house or having kids, and have jaded eyes glued onto the news and social media just waiting for the other, other shoe to drop.
Those of us on the younger side (Gen Z and elder Alphas) are coming into their working age as AI sets out to consume all entry-level service jobs, or coming into their school age as AI sets out to take over education while teachers are increasingly burning out or stressed under increasingly erratic conversations about “how to fix our broken education system.”
It is not simply bleak, it is bleak in a manner where it becomes increasingly difficult to find any hope or silver lining for any generation to cling to. It’s despair without joy to contrast, and so it becomes our new normal. There is no narrative in which the US has moral authority. There is nothing we can give to the world, or even to ourselves, except shareholder value. To have hope is no longer cool, to be earnest is cheesy, and happiness not pimped out on TikTok or Instagram has no value. The happiest thing we have right now is losing weight with less effort via GLP-1 drugs. Our modern rat race is attention seeking. This leads us to feeling hollow.
But if you look at our lives through statistics and aggregates, how is it we have this blanket of ennui? We have more stuff. We have all of this entertainment available. We have the ability to make our own communities, virtually, which can be more aligned to our senses of self and interests; meaning, we have the ability to join or make our own echo chambers. We have AI to answer our questions. We have air conditioned offices and the world’s knowledge in our pockets. We have democracy and every variation of Italian red sauce in jars on the grocery shelves, and hundreds of videos on YouTube to teach you how to make that sauce if you so choose.
We have, in fact, choice. We have choice in everything, if you can afford it.
But the world we live in pushes us to measure ourselves by output, productivity, and consumption. It teaches us to see life as something to optimize rather than something to savor. And in the process, we lose sight of meaning, belonging, and joy.
That’s why modern life feels empty: it’s not that we are broken, it’s that the system we live in values us more as consumers than as people.
How The Commons Guide Helps
The Commons Guide took shape as a way of answering this emptiness. Not with another self-help trick or productivity hack, but with a shift in how we live and relate to one another.
Connection over isolation. We thrive when we work, play, and rest together. None of us were meant to carry life alone.
Sustainability over endless growth. Growth for growth’s sake leaves us burnt out and the planet exhausted. True thriving comes from living in ways that can last.
Wonder over numbness. Life regains its spark when we allow ourselves to be curious, to play, and to see the sacred in small things.
Time over immediacy. We don’t just live in the moment—we live across time. What we do today shapes tomorrow, for ourselves and for those who come after us.
I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I believe The Commons Guide can be a compass: a way to navigate the noise and rediscover purpose in a way that feels human again. This isn’t about retreating from the modern world, it’s about learning to live in it with more depth, more connection, and more joy.
-Ben