The world is changing.
The world I grew up in feels like a distant dream. A faded photograph. A time and place never to be experienced again.
Back then life felt more simple. Time seemed to move slower.
We didn’t have mobile phones, internet or on-demand entertainment, so we went outside. We had only keys in our pockets, no money, no way for anyone to reach us or to know where we were. As a result we were present. There was nowhere else to be.
Outside we would meet people. Friends and strangers. We might talk to each other. Ask another child to play with us. We trusted each other and believed that most people were good, honest and trustworthy.
If we made a friend, all we needed was some sticks, stones and a little bit of imagination to have an adventure. Every day was an adventure. A potential for something amazing to happen. Not on a screen but in real life.
We didn’t have much. Maybe a ball, a skipping rope or, if you were lucky, a bicycle. Yet I don’t remember missing anything. Life felt full. I felt alive.
Today something feels different.
When I look around I see people who are not fully there. Physically present but mentally somewhere else. They seem distracted and disconnected.
I see people who no longer feel safe in this world. I can sense the collective fear in the air. People look at each other with suspicion instead of curiosity. Like we have become strangers to one another.
I see people who have lost their spark. That little twinkle in their eye that you only see when someone is fully alive. On the outside they are functioning but on the inside they are already dead. I think I’m one of them.
We are always running, never arriving. We have material comfort, yet never enough. We used to fix things. Now we replace them.
What happened to us?
The contradiction
I know that this is not just my nostalgia. When I look around, something doesn’t seem to add up.
In the last few decades, material wealth and standards of living have significantly increased in many parts of the world. Many of us can now access levels of comfort that previous generations could only dream of.
At the same time, mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, burnout and loneliness have become significant global health concerns. Today over a billion people, almost one in seven, live with a mental health condition.
If we have more comfort, convenience and material abundance than ever before, why don’t we seem better off?
The tree of society
Imagine society as a tree.
First are the roots. They are few and partly hidden. They represent our deeper human needs and the guiding ideas that shape how we build societies.
From the roots grow the branches. They are the systems and institutions that we design: education, work life, cities and digital environments.
From the branches grow the leaves. They are the visible outcomes of society: depression, anxiety, loneliness, crime, school results, life expectancy, jobs, cost of living and polarisation.
When the roots are neglected, the branches become weak and the leaves sick.
Could it be that we spend too much time discussing the leaves instead of attending to the roots?
Neglected roots
We did not neglect all the roots. We have always paid attention to material security because our survival depended on it.
As increasing material wealth allowed more people to move beyond survival, we could have turned our attention to the other roots. Instead we kept going for more wealth, more growth and more economic progress.
But what else do human beings need to live well?
Wisdom
Wisdom used to be something that human beings valued and actively cultivated. It helped us to understand the bigger picture and think in the long term.
When we lack wisdom, we lose sight of cause and effect, struggle to recognise how much is enough and build systems that are unsustainable.
Today we have more information than ever before but seem to lack the wisdom to use it for the greater good.
Connection
Human beings are naturally relational. We need others to co-regulate and to validate our existence. One of our deepest needs is to belong and to feel connected to ourselves, others and nature.
When we lose that connection, we can become isolated and lonely, making us more vulnerable to mental health challenges and extreme worldviews.
Today we have focused so much on individualism and competition that we have started to see ourselves as separate instead of part of something bigger than ourselves.
Human nature
For most of our existence, human life followed a natural rhythm. We spent our days outdoors, moved our bodies and adapted our lives to the seasons.
When we go against our nature, spending our days sedentary in artificial environments whilst trying to maintain consistent output, we become restless and unwell.
Today many of our systems and institutions expect us to operate like machines, in ways that are unnatural to us.
Psychological safety
Human beings need to feel safe to thrive. Fear shrinks us to the smallest version of what we could be. Trust is the foundation that societies are built on.
When we feel unsafe, our perception narrows and we become more likely to see other people as threats.
Today we are constantly exposed to fear. Endless feeds of violence, conflict and crisis erode trust and deepen polarisation.
Shared direction
Human beings need something to aspire towards, and strong societies need a shared horizon. A sense of who we want to become and what kind of world we want to build together.
Without a shared direction, we become disoriented and fragmented, pulling in different directions and struggling to make meaningful progress as a species.
Today that direction seems to be missing. We talk about the problems but rarely about our dreams for the future. Humanity is a ship adrift.
Reimagining progress
We cannot go back to yesterday, nor can we stop progress. But we can ask ourselves where that progress is leading us.
If we continue to focus on material progress whilst neglecting the other roots, we may eventually wake up in a world that is not designed for humans.
What if, instead of material wealth, we measured progress by how many people were living a good life?
I’m yet to define what that looks like. But I probably have to start from the beginning and ask what human beings actually need to live well.
I want to build a world where more of us can come back to life.
I want to feel alive again.
Is it too late to build a world for humans?