I suspect that it is going to get much worse in ways that we are yet to imagine.

Yeah, me too! Not sure when it is time to pull the plug on enjoying myself in a big city, but I don't think being in a big city is going to be a good look when the shit finally hits the fan. I plan on going full Voltaire and buying some land to cultivate my own garden.

We default to what we know, rather than having the curiosity to discover what we don't.

Learning would be so much more fun if people kept this in mind when encountering new information. I wish my students had the same curiosity about math that they do about the new cool trend on TikTok!

they are all frowning, wrinkles on the forehead, as they stare at the phone in their hand.

This saddens me the most when I am riding on public transport. When I was a kid and nobody had mobile phones, some people would be reading books or newspapers. But anyone who wasn't reading was fair game for a random conversation. I would try to strike up a conversation with anyone who seemed interesting. These days, it is rare to find anyone without earphones listening to something. They are staying busy consuming content, but happiness has mostly left the building.