I'm happy with my Honda
I keep getting ads on Instagram for this startup called Wander begging me to remote-work from one of their fancy short term rentals. They extoll the benefits of their houses which are usually fully controllable from your phone and come with a Tesla parked in the driveway. The houses themselves are often large modernist or contemporary structures almost like something out of Parasite.
I know I keep getting these ads because Meta has figured out that I work in tech and make good money. Seeing what Wander offers though has made me wonder, is this really what is seen as the optimal living situation these days? Is this what everyone is supposedly aspiring to?
I think in a past life I might've seen these homes and considered them to be a dream to achieve. Now I can't help but see them as copy-paste. A highly homogenized lifestyle trying to make itself seem new and unique. To quote The Devil Wears Prada, "Don't be silly, Andrea. Everyone wants this." Why does everything have to be so strictly perfect? Why do people see that sterility as ideal? And why does it seem to take such a strong root in tech culture?