off how?
It is off. The US empire is falling, and falling fast. They are lashing out in all directions, and hurting almost everyone. People credit Trump too much for the chaos, that is really frustrating. Yes, he has a lot of power to do idiotic things, but there is an armada of people controlling things and contributing here. Trump is mostly the facade. Never forget that Americans wanted this. They knew what he was, but they still voted for the republican fascists.
The same authoritarian development is happening in a lot of democracies at the moment. It’s honestly very worrying. I also feel quite powerless.
I suspect that living through the downfall of the empire du jour has something to do with it. It affects everyone worldwide.
Usually the balance of dark and light carry the day. Lately, it’s been more dark and the balance seems out of whack. I feel that too (I was going to say “in my bones”).
I feel okay, personally (other than being horrified by the polycrisis taking place in the world), but share your sense that we’re in the middle of a tectonic shift. Multiple friends, usually talkative, usually stable, have gone silent, and I know several people who seem to be having low level mental health crises.
are you noticing the enshitifaction of everything ?
Not everything, internet search is the main one I notice but not much else by just not really using much that could be enshitified.
It’s hard to enshitify outdoor hobbies that only require very simple tools or equipment and have plenty of alternatives you could go for instead.
Can you give us any examples? Personally, I just finished doing a series of highly weighted uni assignments so for about 3 weeks everything was off in the world and suddenly jumping into traffic felt very alluring, lol.
Maybe it’s just me or an American thing but everything seems like it’s changed. People seem to just be surviving. Nobody wants to do anything anymore. Nobody can afford to do anything anymore. People don’t really talk to each other much. Etc
It’s not just you. Majority of Americans don’t have even $1,000 in savings. The Iran war has been dragging for weeks and weeks and gas and groceries are only getting higher. People are feeling the pinch.
Is it a US specific thing? UK here and still haven’t noticed any real chance in food prices. But I keep hearing people complain about it.
Is it a problem mostly for just some foods? That could potentially explain it if it’s just on foods I don’t really eat much.
Often hear people I know complain about food prices and they are spending like 4x what I am spending on a per person basis. I don’t even know how I could spend that much without being silly. Steak or lobster every day might do it.
That’s been an ongoing problem since 2008
It doesn’t have to cost anything to see friends, I have noticed that our friends who only want to meet up at expensive places are friends we don’t really see anymore. But anyone happy to sit on the sofa or a blanket in the park are people we still see frequently.
