Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

I made an account just to say thank you to you - parent, and the original poster, and all the others I had read here. And to share my story.

I had the jobs I loved for a very long time (even being in the same corp; and even if jobs were hard). And then the job I loved rather abruptly ended. And I ended up in a job that isn’t exciting for me. And, there is a fair amount of politics and egos. But it pays well and is super flexible. And it’s not too dreadful - more like “meh, okay”. And worse - the alternatives aren’t more exciting either. So in a way - just a cynical way to look at having a luxury problem at hands, I guess.

So I focus on the things I can enjoy here and now, to stay in the moment, while keeping the eyes open for something that I can believe in. I find myself hard problems that I try to solve - yet do not have the pressure to, have little quick side projects, and do one hour of high intensity training every day. I focus on my family and friends outside of work (in the past years I gained a few) It helps.

But I think the reason of this state, is not just doing too much work - it’s that we need something to believe in, something to allow ourselves relax, and show child-like curiosity and emotions for. It’s having more control, if you wish, in some sense, or illusion thereof.

The modern world is so much make-pretend in an attempt to optimize everything, so judgemental, so result-oriented and transactional, that after a while it’s hard to find something “pure”, worth believing in and following. And especially hard after seeing a few cycles, to get excited about another one, people chasing the next holy grail...

Some people would get into a religion, it would definitely help me more if I could. But I can’t.

I have been also reading.

Of the many books that I have read to try to figure myself out - “the new earth”, “the brain that changes itself” and “thinking in systems” are probably among the ones that I would recommend the most. (Of course, the first one has some kind of association behind it, and the second does promote a brain-training app - science based. But it’s nice to see the reasons clear :-) Only the third one is “pure“ - but once you read it, you realize the entirety of the world is just a giant pile of interconnected systems on many levels, and you are back to square 1... :-)

Sorry for the not very coherent rant.

Thank you again, and take care!

not really sure what point you're trying to make here. You don't believe in biology?

Many of us work with people whom we have never met in person, building products that are not real, to fill the needs of strangers whose jobs should unquestionably not exist. Furthermore, sometimes it feels impossible to do creative work on the side, as every input and output that is part of the process becomes a commodity to be tracked and sold. The Machine has not stopped. And it won't.

I think we are all sprinting towards an ambiguous neurological disaster. The more you think about the signs and symptoms, the harder it becomes to envision a future scenario, a future Self, where you stay in tech and do not burn out intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

The longer I work online, the more I understand how a digitally mediated life insulates us from the human experience. The question we all have to meditate on is whether the lifestyle benefits of working in tech, working remotely, outweigh the longterm negative effects on the psyche and the soul.