I was going to write an article full of references and sources but no longer. I’m going to write on how I feel American life has been strained so much and that in our efforts to survive we’ve lost the ability to fully enjoy the things that make life worth living.

For background, less Americans than ever are socializing on Friday nights which has been the historical marker as the beginning of the weekend. In a vacuum this isn’t the worst thing in the world, but nothing ever happens in a vacuum. The marriage rate is declining, the birthrate is as low as it has ever been, men don’t want to date women, women don’t want to date men, people are having less sex, Meta is as profitable as ever and now we aren’t hanging out on fridays. Saturday is holding strong but we keep seeing these signals that the world we know is going away bit by bit due to fraying social ties, rapid inflation, and stagnant wages due to those in power not caring about how their actions affect the common man (see the 2008 financial crisis.) 

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We are working so hard to just keep our heads above water with the median American salary coming in at $64k and the median debt coming in at $63k. You have to pay your over-priced rent, you have to buy an EZPass to get to work, you have to have a streaming service subscription, and you can’t spend less than $100 at the grocery store. As someone speaking from experience, when you’re struggling to survive, your personal relationships fall to the wayside. I have a couple facetime’s I need to return and I’m not happy to leave my friends hanging as I know that these people care about me. But I also realize the strain I’m under right now that's keeping me from actively engaging with the ones I love.

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As a strategist I don’t believe that disconnected people make for better consumers even though it’s been studied that people spend more when their free time is limited. However I believe that, or I want to believe that a healthy & happy consumer is a better consumer. However, I know negativity also sells. But the continued squeeze of the American consumer can only have negative consequences as we saw with the Flock camera revolts that I wrote about previously. 

I just miss my friends.

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