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Venerable Seraphim Rose speaks to us
Anyone who looks at contemporary life from the perspective of the natural life lived by those in the past – say, in Russia, America, or any other Western European country of the 19th century – cannot help but be struck by the unnaturalness into which today's life has fallen. All concepts of authority and obedience, propriety and politeness, public or private conduct have radically changed, turned upside down.
Today's unnatural life can be characterized as spoiled, overindulged. From infancy, the child of our days is treated in the family, as a general rule, like a little god or goddess: their whims are heeded, their desires fulfilled; they are surrounded by toys, entertainment, comfort; they are not raised according to the strict principles of Christian conduct, but are left to develop as desire drives them. It is usually enough for them to say "I want!" or "I don't want!" for their obedient parents to bow to them and let them have their way. Perhaps things are not always like this in all families, but they happen often enough to become a rule in the upbringing of children in our times ‒ and not even the best-intentioned parents completely escape its influence. Even when parents try to raise their children more strictly, those around them try something else. This must also be taken into account in a child's education.
When such a child becomes an adult, they will naturally surround themselves with the same things they grew accustomed to in childhood: comfort, entertainment, and toys for grown-ups. Their life becomes an assiduous pursuit of entertainment – and, incidentally, this word is missing from other vocabularies; in 19th-century Russia or any other serious civilization, no one would have understood what it meant. Life is a permanent chase after amusement, so devoid of any serious meaning that a traveler from any 19th-century country, if they were to look at our popular television programs, our amusement parks, our advertisements, films, and music – at almost any aspect of mass culture – would think they had stumbled into "the land of fools," who have lost all connection with reality. But we, most of the time, do not think about these things, because we live in the world and consider them natural.
Some observers of contemporary life have called today's youth "the me generation," and our times, "the age of narcissism," characterized by self-worship and self-fascination that hinders the development of a natural human life. Others have spoken of a plastic universe or an imaginary world, in which many people live today, unable to accept or confront the reality of the surrounding world, or the problems within themselves.
From "The Orthodox Worldview," Predania Publishing House 2009