The current hedonism

The raw hedonism of the Western populations is very striking - I mean the way in which people are self-blinded to depth; and explicitly dedicate their lives to having (what is generally accepted to be) fun and doing (what the cool people think is) cool stuff - then telling other people about it (humbly bragging). 

This is not something really new - but has become not just public (via social media, and the 24/7 connectivity to mass media) but the basis of life, for great masses of people of all ages and classes. 

What makes it so stark is that in the 2020s there are no remotely plausible social channels for people to practice virtue while gaining life-satisfaction. 

Half a century ago there were many niches - jobs, social institutions, churches, the arts and crafts - which were generally believed to be Good. And within-which there was (apparently) opportunity to build a viable life.  

This meant that many people could do these things, join these groupings, practice these activities - and feel that they were doing something that was worthwhile in some large albeit vague sense - while still (implicitly, covertly) being hedonic. 

It seems that people don't believe this now - except maybe briefly, in adolescence. 

And even if they do believe that some thing (such as "climate activism" say) is intrinsically worthwhile; they will very soon either be disillusioned; or else must consent to enter the web of lies and self-deceptions that characterises public discourse in our era. 

Such is the consequence of living under totalitarianism - there is allowed no autonomy of social institutions: all is brought under centralized surveillance and control - civil society is co-opted, regulated, emptied of agency, and squeezed towards extinction. 

In secular terms, and in the mainstream of life; the available choice is between honest disillusionment, nihilism, and isolated alienation on the one hand -- or immersion in The Matrix... with an attitude of quasi-compensatory pseudo-rebellion in the form of seeking the hedonic option. 

In other words; the dedication to hedonism is self-perceived as a stance of rebellion and dissent against the totalitarian system.

It isn't rebellion or dissent, of course - and there are, of course, other options...

There are other options... 

But only via developing explicit awareness of having been trapped by one's own metaphysical assumptions; by examining, critiquing, and revising the prevalent assumptions. 

And that development is something which can only happen by the active decision of each individual; by an inner quest that the great mass of Westerners absolutely refuse even to consider embarking upon.