A new sense of dread

It's hard to put my finger on when I started feeling this way, but I think the modern world kind of sucks.

Now, I am no Luddite, and I certainly enjoy the comforts of contemporary living. Air conditioning is currently my favorite example. I also enjoy modern medicine, modern conveyances (primarily the subway,) and a great number of modern ideas.

But it really seems like there is no mystery anymore. It seems like it's a lot of the same stuff everywhere you go. You see the same stores, see the same cars, eat the same food, hear the same jokes, hear the same music.

This might be all in my head. I tend to have a desire to be in another place or another time fairly often. I would like to not romanticize the past so much, and I certainly don't think everything about society or day to day was superior in another time. I just can't shake the feeling that we are missing something from our lives collectively.

I really worry about people these days. We all seem so unable to look up from our phones. I saw a lady get on an escalator at Grand Central with her phone out. The escalator was not working, but she just stood there, waiting to go down. People were having to move around her, and she did not seem to realize that she was completely in the way. I cannot think of a situation that sums up these vague feelings better than that.

I feel like I am going to start exploring this notion further in the coming weeks. NYC is a great place to think about all this. People howl that "old New York" is disappearing, and while I wouldn't know first hand if that is true or not, I often find myself thinking that maybe it's true. Maybe New York is turning into all the other places I have lived. Sadly, I am not so sure it is happening just here. Those other places, like Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, are slowly starting to resemble every other place.

Are corporate interests, advertisers, and developers to blame? Probably, but I doubt exclusively. Are individuals, with a love of distraction (Facebook) and convenience to blame? Sure, though there must be other reasons.

I am going to keep thinking about this. I am going to keep thinking about why this bothers me so much, and what I think I can do in the face of a modern world so intent on mediocrity and homogeny.

City Snakes are known to molt throughout the summer. An adult has shed it's skin and continued on it's way.