it’s hypertrophy on a personal level, also

We’re familiar with how this graph indicates the social and ecological burdens of over-development (overshoot trajectories of population, production, consumption, pollution, depletion):

But I don’t think the personal burden is much acknowledged. In fact, to the contrary, there tends to be a mystique about “modern conveniences” and auspicious opportunities re: so much more in the way of cultural enrichment, etc. etc. etc.

So much more.

Standards ratcheting up. Such that the sustenance of a modern full household experience (2000 square foot, four-bedroom home; a regular car and then one that can carry more, like a mini-van or SUV; vacations; restaurant meals; college for the two or three kids; maintenance of the partnering relationship) involves a lot of work on the domestic front. And then there’s the necessary income derived from the large amount of preoccupying work required by the institutions of the Leviathan.

This is why in each succeeding generation, as life gets harder and harder, there are more and more young adults who are averse to endeavoring to climb the mountain. Or: much divorce, disappointment, dysfunction when the attempt is made, the mystique is shattered, and the reality of the burdensomeness is encountered.