Gen Xers and beyond have a much higher quality of life, even in a recession, than their grandparents did and to say otherwise is an example of the very self inv

Gen Xers and beyond have a much higher quality of life, even in a recession, than their grandparents did and to say otherwise is an example of the very self involvement that's being criticized here. Humans readily adapt to changed circumstances [1]. It's not "self involvement", it's just human nature. Also, above a certain threshold[2] absolute wealth is less important to people than relative wealth in terms of happiness. Hence "having more stuff than their grandparents" doesn't make people feel any happier because their peers all also have more stuff. [1] For example, people who win the lottery are really happy at the time but six months later have reverted to the baseline level of happiness they had before the win. [2] ie: having enough to survive reasonably well.