Until the advent of the Scientific Revolution and the pronounced growth of technology and tools of human innovation, the vast majority of humans lived in squalid conditions of abject poverty. Picture your modern neighbor with three garages filled with late-model cars, his-and-her jet-skis, and a really impressive angle grinder. In 1437 this same middle-class citizen would be just another expendable, filth-ridden pawn serving some narcissistic warlord. He likely lived with his family in fetid conditions, in very poor health, with a narrow range of skills necessary to provide life or keep from being brutally executed in front of blood-thirsty neighbors hungry for a good-ole’-fashioned Saturday rip-about. Life was extremely difficult for the vast majority of humanity until very recently. Emotional fragility was not a useful trait.
Life, without question, sucked.
Today, developed societies have everything. We squabble over macronutrient ratios and the pros and cons of carbs while failing to appreciate that our ancestors would have dropped dead of a heart attack if they stepped into a Costco or the produce section at Whole Foods. We have vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers that vacuum and mow without us even being present! The internet provides endless information and the ability to make (in theory) well-informed choices and decisions to better our lives.
Life is unquestionably better and easier in modern times. Yet for so many of us…life still sucks. We aren’t happy, and we’re getting less happy every year.
Why are we so unhappy when life is so much easier? Are we becoming an emotionally fragile society?
Continue reading “Emotional Fragility: Is This the New Normal?”