Summer’s Over. What a Relief!

A version of this article first appeared as the intro to my Discomfort Zone newsletter

As the northern hemisphere summer comes to an end, who can blame anyone for seeking distraction from the roller coaster, dumpster fire, train wreck of life in 2024?

Whether you’re Netflix-and-chilling, zoning out to a DJ, playing Candy Crush (still?) or cheering on your pro sports team, there’s nothing wrong with transcending daily reality through entertainment.

But I do wonder whether the accelerated pace and digital anonymity of life have us seeking something beyond distraction.

Maybe, deep down inside, we’re craving relief.

Back in my student days, I was exposed to Karl Marx’s theory of alienation, which, according to the distinctly non-capitalist Wikipedia, describes:

“the estrangement of people from aspects of their human nature as a consequence of the division of labor and living in a society of stratified social classes. The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of a social class, the condition of which estranges a person from their humanity.”

So this kind of alienation is all about powerlessness due to the economic and social structure of the world we live in. Without getting all political-philosophical, there’s another, more contemporary way, to interpret alienation.

Social media, friends, and family all bombard us with how we should be living our lives. Think of them as scripts for a game where we are the main character. Or as roadmaps with a destination already marked. Or as zones that we never asked to be pushed into.

We are told to hustle while also chilling; to plan for the future while also staying in the now; to consume more while also protecting the planet; to see the world while also respecting tourist destinations; to learn AI while also raw-dogging flights; to be brat while also remaining very demure, very mindful.

A line that was repeated in many different contexts in the 1950s and 60s was “Even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat”. It’s funny because it’s true. “Working for The Man” was a downer for the hippies and nowadays it’s a downer for everyone.

As I wrote in an article a year ago, this metaphor obscures the wider systems at play. And it seems as though the members of Gen Z are this century’s hippies, judging by how return-to-office has fizzled. And when employees do show up, it’s for as little time as possible; a sneaky way of showing up then bowing out known as “coffee badging”.

In a nutshell, coffee badging involves going into the office for enough time to grab a coffee and attend a meeting or two before heading home early to beat the traffic. The term was first used in a 2023 report by Owl Labs which revealed that 58% of hybrid workers admitted to “showing face at the office and then leaving”.

Alienation in 2024 goes way beyond a disconnect from your job or being stuck in a social caste — it’s realizing that you’re following somebody else’s map. So this back-to-school season might be a good time to ask yourself not where you’re heading but who gave you the map you’re following? What if there’s a different map? Are you striving to own a home, to pay off a mortgage, to move to the city, to move out of the city?

Any one of these options might be right for you. But if you distract yourself from the choices you’ve made so far in your life, you aren’t doing your older self any favors.

Distraction simply means that you’re looking away from the map someone has thrust into your hands. Relief would be tossing the map aside, parking the car, and using your own mind to decide where you’d like to drive next.

Or maybe walk. It’s up to you.

John B. Dutton’s new novel, a deadly satire called 2084, is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and select indie bookstores. For signed or personalized copies, visit johnbdutton.com. His Discomfort Zone newsletter comes out on Substack every second Thursday.