Binging Hell of Presidents, Matt (the largest of the chapos, who should be able to eat the smaller ones) said something that resonated with me- the idea that our connection with class is so disassociated and immaterial that the only way we can express ourselves is through consumption.
I realised he was 100% right, but sadly realised I couldn't figure out alternatives. Is there any answer apart from getting off our damn iphone? (it's community connection right? But we still have to consume food and culture to do so...- or am I taking it too literally?)
One of the biggest hurdles is not existing with other real people in the real world. There has always been an element of mediation through consumption (feasts for example) but today that is driven to the extreme when we type at each other through magic boxes. We can rationalize this but I don't think our psyches are quite able to process it correctly. I know it's even harder now because of COVID but we do have to figure out how to exist with each other offline.