Historians have been dividing the world history in many epochs, mostly follow triad framework; for Toffler it is Agricultural, Industrial and then age of Information. For Yuval divided the history in Cognitive, Agricultural and then Scientific revolutions. I am not concerned with the division or how they work, but each epoch brings an existential crisis within. The urge of people to give some "meaning" to their life is always there. Since we are living in the world where everyone knows everyone, a new "collective self" has emerged, which could be considered as the essence of the time we are living in. "Collective self" could be a doctrine, standards, moral code or whatever imposes certain expectations on a person. This creates a drift between what society wants you to be and what you want to be yourself. The most of today's anxiety is sprouting from this drift. We can clearly say this is the era where, "You are, therefore you work". The humans have been reduced to mere "utility" to the society, where you are evaluated by professions.
This epiphany came to me when my niece of just 6 summers told me that she wanna be someone when she grows up. I realized instantly the drift she is feeling and wants to give some meaning to her live by choosing a profession. Naive as is she, started off with becoming a scientist. Within a week from a scientist she decided to be an artist, then a ballerina and ended up to work at McDonald's. I have nothing against working any honest day job, but my advice on her career's choice (clearly the "collective self"), convinced her to work as a teacher when she grows up.
