Kreider’s claim also critiques a social environment where busyness signals virtue. When everyone is exhausted, rest can look like irresponsibility, and idleness becomes something to defend rather than enjoy. This pressure pushes people to fill every gap—commutes, queues, even meals—with stimulation or tasks.
However, the cost of this constant occupation often shows up as irritability, shallow attention, and a sense that life is rushing by without being processed. Kreider’s framing implies that these aren’t merely personal shortcomings but predictable outcomes of chronic “underexposure” to mental sunlight. [...]
