A lot of people are feeling this way right now. Life feels empty, despite if we have more possessions, more technology, and better living conditions than ever before. Air conditioning, immediate global communication, and infinite streams of entertainment promise happiness, but surveys show that loneliness, anxiety, and existential discontent are on the rise. A Gallup poll from 2023 found that only 21% of adults in high-income countries were very happy with their lifestyles.
The Hedonic Treadmill in Action: The Illusion of Comfort
The hedonic treadmill is a psychological phenomena that explains why people quickly become used to better circumstances and then revert back to how they generally enjoy things. This is what modern emptiness is all about. Philip Brickman and Donald Campbell, both bricklayers, came up with this idea in 1971. It explains why your new smartphone or spacious apartment isn’t as exciting after a few weeks. Researchers at University College London have used fMRI scans to show that the rush of dopamine you receive from getting more stuff wears away quickly, so you have to keep getting more stuff to feel normal.
According to the World Bank, individuals around the world spent $45 trillion on goods and services in 2024. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the number of people with depression has gone increased by 25% since 2000, nonetheless. Between 1999 and 2018, when more than 80% of people in the US used smartphones, the number of antidepressant prescriptions grew by 65%. There is no way this is a coincidence. The famous marshmallow test by Walter Mischel revealed that being able to wait for what you want is one of the most important things that makes people happy. It’s hard to wait for what you want when you can stream and order food on demand. Kids who didn’t give in to their desires did better in life many years later. But algorithms drive today’s culture of fast rewards, which leads people to hunt for short-term highs.
Important Signs of the Hedonic Trap:
Nielsen (2025) says that adults spend an average of seven hours a day looking at screens.
The American Psychological Association believes that using social media makes you 27% more likely to feel anxious.
Long-term studies in 10 nations show that those who are more materialistic are less satisfied.
Barry Schwartz and other psychologists say that having too many choices makes it hard to pick one. People can’t decide because there are 500 streaming options and apps that let you buy items all the time. This makes people sad and regretful. We now assume we need things that used to be luxuries. We are stuck in a cycle where more is less happy.
Being alone in a world that is always linked
Being alone makes you feel much worse. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General called it an epidemic. This is happening at the same time that the most people are connected: 5.4 billion people use social media. The Grant Study at Harvard has been looking at people’s lives since 1938 and has found that solid relationships are the best sign of long-term pleasure. People don’t talk to each other in person as much anymore. According to a study from Oxford in 2024, participation in the community has dropped by 30% since 1990. Instead, people have “friends” online, but they don’t know them well.
As cities get bigger, this gets worse. UN Habitat states that 40% of people who reside in big cities like New York or Tokyo live alone. This makes people hikikomori, which means they cease talking to other people altogether. It affects 1.5 million young individuals in Japan. It was great to work from home, but I lost friends at work because of it. According to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index, 58% of workers were having trouble managing work and life, which led to a lot of them burning out. Dating apps say they may help you find love, but all they do is make you tired of swiping. People who use Bumble say that 70% of them feel more alone after a match since the app’s algorithms put more weight on newness than depth.
Philosopher Byung-Chul Han opposes this in his book The Burnout Society. He says that neoliberal individualism turns relationships into transactions. We “network” to get something, not to make real connections, which hurts trust. A Pew Research survey from 2025 found that 52% of young adults under 30 have no close relationships, up from 27% in 1990. Data backs this up. When group rituals stop, being alone in a cozy setting becomes a painful void.
The Absence of Meaning in Employment, Materialism, and the Emptiness of Purpose
Life today is great at making people happy, but it doesn’t give them a reason to exist. Viktor Frankl writes in Man’s Search for Meaning that this is the key to how people can get back on their feet. In societies after the Industrial Revolution, efficiency is more essential than going beyond. The World Economic Forum says that automation will have taken away 85 million employment by 2025. This means that many gig workers will not have any story arcs. The 2024 State of the Global Workplace poll by Gallup reported that only 23% of workers are happy with their jobs. More and more people are “quietly quitting” their employment because they only want to get paid.
Consumerism just fills the gap on the surface. People can learn more about themselves by using slogans like “Just Do It” and “Think Different.” Laurie Santos, a Yale psychologist, believes that external goals like money and status only make you happy for a brief time in her happiness labs. Goals that are internal, like growth and contribution, last longer. Richard Layard, an economist who studies happiness, believes that emotional well-being levels out at $75,000 a year, yet people keep going after their goals. Brickman’s 1978 study indicated that lottery winners’ happiness levels return to normal after a year. They are often less happy because their relationships ended.
This is even worse since people are losing their faith. According to Pew Research, “nones” make up 29% of the U.S. population, which is the greatest percentage ever. The CDC argues that this is connected to more people thinking about ending their own lives. Secular options like health apps promise tranquility, but they make spirituality a product, which isn’t true in a community.
Erosion of Purpose Signs:
40% of Gen Z thinks they feel existential dread (Deloitte, 2025).
The APA says that 20% more people obtain help between the ages of 40 and 50 while they are going through a midlife crisis.
48% of adults feel lost after they retire (AARP).
Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone explains how people are growing less linked in their neighborhoods. There are now half as many bowling leagues as there were in 1990, for example. In the past, people would tell each other stories, but now they watch Netflix by themselves.
The Comfort Paradox: How Anxiety, Depression, and Other Issues Affect Your Mental Health
The downside of comfort is that it makes you weak. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 970 million people have mental health problems. This is 25% greater than it was before the epidemic, even if the therapies are better now. Jonathan Haidt, an evolutionary psychologist, claims that the number of unhappy young people has doubled from 2010 to 2022 because they spend more time on social media and less time outside.
More and more people are using wearable sleep devices that can determine when you’re in REM sleep. This is happening at the same time that insomnia is on the rise. The Sleep Foundation says that 35% of Americans have trouble sleeping. Andrew Huberman’s neuroscience research shows that constant notifications take over the brain’s default mode network, which is important for thinking. Comfortable settings reduce the evolutionary pressures that once promoted resilience; without challenges, anxiety increases.
Men and women are not the same. For instance, women are 50% more likely to be depressed (WHO), which is linked to wanting to be ideal on social media. Men are more likely to be by themselves. There are a lot of therapies out there—people download CBT applications 100 million times a year—but the problems that cause them don’t go away, even with all the distractions.
Why life feels empty even when it’s good
