Everyday life is boring because people don't fully understand it, and they are spending too much of their lives trying to get out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. Guy Debord's essay "Perspectives for Conscious Alterations in Everyday Life" offers this opinion, and also puts the majority of the blame on the upper class. (Yes! Finally a win for us plebes.) Don’t let the title scare you. This essay is actually very easy to read, and it will give you some insight into your own activities and views on the world, whether you think you need it or not.
It all started with upper class social thinkers wrongfully believing that everyday life is nothing and therefore that specialized activities are the only way a person can truly live his life. The idea eventually became widespread because of the condescending attitude of these upper class thinkers, who believed that they were outside everyday life, and that everyday life only belonged to the common people, the lower class.
The upper class began to look to only have extraordinary experiences fill their time, and so they alienated themselves from everyday life. This is why they cannot understand and enjoy it. The lower class, on the other hand, is constantly told that their common lives are not special, and so they aim to have the life of the upper class. This alienates them from their own everyday life, and that is why they cannot understand and enjoy it.
Debord's essay goes into much more detail and gives many interesting examples, such as the prison of new technology, the future according to science fiction, and the reinforcement of the above ideas through capitalism. If you have a few minutes, you should check it out. It’s only seven pages long, and it will definitely keep your interest.
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