The modern journey involves considerable exploration, but it is beset by anxiety— anxiety that one is not keeping pace, not doing or accomplishing enough, not living up to potential. In a world of affluence, individuals are constantly aware of the lives that they could lead, if only they wanted to. For all of the perceived benefits, a belief in limitless potential— the ability for individuals to change the world— produces frustration and disappointment. The more one does and accomplishes, the greater the imagined opportunities become. At the same time, the many pressures of modern life quiet the inner voice that asks, even if weakly, “How much is enough?”

What matters in modern life is that experiences are acquired and then articulated for public consumption. It is not enough that individuals participate in new activities, see new places or meet new people; these activities are to be curated and carefully presented to others. As Turkle notes, the performance of identity becomes identity itself. Specifically, these performances require that individuals be adaptable, for it is adaptability that provides a semblance of continuity in a world that is believed to be evolving more rapidly than ever, one in which demands for skills are shifting and where the most enduring of traditions are contested. The point is not to settle, for this represents a slowing down, an admission that one cannot keep up with the demands of modern life— an abandonment of ambition.

When the world is replete with uncertainty, knowledge becomes fragile and relationships are less likely to endure. Adaptability is therefore believed to be critical: it is on the surface the most sensible guidance that universities can provide to students and the most reasonable of strategies for progression in the workforce. Given our culture of performance, this facilitated in large part through our online lives, it is better to go with the flow than to stop and critically examine what performance really entails. To reflect in this way would be considered too serious. Modern commitments are, after all, light.

For individuals coming of age, what matters is that one discovers oneself, pushing through personal limits in the journey for meaning and the articulation of personal values. But the very hyperconnectedness, competitiveness and speed with which the search takes place draws individuals away from themselves.