1/ Short thread: accidental meaning hypothesis

There was a state of affairs in western societies that enabled many to have meaning in their lives through the default path of work. This was not universal, but broad enough and for long enough that the myth took hold.

2/ The basic version of this in the US was suburban community, father working, mother at home and at least one if not both parents being active in the local community. Trust the path and over time you end up better off than parents + acquire material successful life markers

3/ People found meaning by having kids, getting involved in their community & religion and being surrounded by others who were on a similar path. People felt like they were playing a somewhat fair game and getting what they deserved.

4/ However, this path worked well for such a long time that people started to confound the default work path with the meaning that they were receiving. Put your head down at a good company and life will be alright.

Except the meaning was a historical accident.

5/ The last 20-30 years have seen the the underlying dynamics of work change such that accidental meaning is less likely.

High wage jobs moved to city, lower odds of being better off than parents (now <50%), expensive credentials + housing, dual income couples.

6/ An untold story in the western world is that MANY people moved into the upper class from the middle class. However, the lower class has grown as well.

The Job Quality Index, the US has been adding more jobs below median wage than above since 1990 + the ratio getting worse

7/ These factors drove behavioral changes. Former time-consuming (but meaningful) community tasks could now be outsourced to cheap labor or paid services

daycare > stay at home parent
amazon > libraries
soulcycle > church
tutors + programs > play dates

8/ From @superwuster

"Though understood and promoted as an instrument of liberation, convenience has a dark side. With its promise of smooth, effortless efficiency, it threatens to erase the sort of struggles and challenges that...give meaning to life." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-convenience.html

9/ To compensate for the meaning gap, people double down on work as the path because of our faith that work hard + following the default path = meaningful life.

Except what is happening is a workism fueled doom loop:

10/ Much of this is being driven by young high-income city types who are disappointed with their current state and who have a disproportionate control on culture.

11/ However, this professional class is myopically focused on jobs, money, leadership positions and capital.

While these accidentally led to meaning in previous generations, they likely will not yield the same results today.

12/ There is a lot of valid anger that many people who achieved this success in life started out with favorable conditions, but it is a mistake to think we an give people meaning the way we did 30 years ago

When we try to create jobs, on average we create low-wage jobs.

13/ Some young people have woken up. As I went from my 20s to my 30s in a city I found that more of my and my friends time was spent around work and hanging out + meeting others was harder than ever. I craved the community and didn't think I would be able to have it in Boston

14/ My friends were started to move 30-60 minute commutes away from the city because they wanted a house. People started to have kids and focus on work and managing daycare. The community I thought I had was much more fragile than I realized.

15/ I dont have a solution, but I've been lucky to find others who was to experiment with figuring it out

It took me a while to break the connection between full-time work + meaning, but for me, the default path undermines meaning + its worth it to try to figure out another way