Episode
Why Are So Many People Secretly Losing Interest in Everything?
- Published
- Apr 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 571
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Summary
There was a moment at a small, crowded Chinese restaurant in Queens that I haven’t been able to shake. I’ve been on an unexpected pause in life lately, an ex–big tech software engineer with 25 years behind the keyboard, now suddenly finding himself with more time than he ever asked for. Time, as it turns out, is a strange thing when it stops being rationed by meetings and deadlines. It starts revealing things. That afternoon, I met up with an old friend Derrick, his son, his Cousin Aaron, and my own teenage son. The kind of gathering that feels ordinary on the surface, cheap food, loud tables, half-finished stories, but somehow opens doors you didn’t intend to walk through. We were reminiscing about an old game we all used to love: Fallout . The kind of game that once pulled you in for hours without noticing the passage of time. And then Aaron said it. He didn’t enjoy gaming anymore. Not just gaming, almost nothing, really. Hobbies, free time, even vacations. All of it had started to feel muted. Like the color had been turned down on life itself. What surprised me wasn’t the confession. It was the response. Around the table, teens, adults, all of us, we nodded. Not out of politeness. Out of recognition. Somewhere along the way, excitement had become harder to find. The quiet erosion of interest At first, we tried to explain it in simple terms: work stress, fatigue, getting older. But the more we talked, the less convincing that felt. What emerged instead was something broader. A life where time outside of work is fragmented and thin. Where every hobby quickly becomes a marketplace. Where curiosity is constantly interrupted by ads, products, courses, “opportunities,” and noise disguised as guidance. We live in what can only be described as an economy that doesn’t just s…