I agree. It's unfortunate that the tone of this site has shifted from a playful, exuberant, rebellious culture looking to creatively tinker, build and solve problems with new approaches and solutions to... this.

Denying problems exist if they don't affect you doesn't solve them.

>playful, exuberant, rebellious

Just not the wrong kind of rebellion where you might be exposed to an opinion that doesn't give you good vibes, right?

This website is in the shadow of tech in general and the valley in particular. HN doesn't mirror that culture, but does reacts to it. The culture here is visibly molded by the ongoing cultural rot in the Bay Area and Tech. If you're good at sniffing out the trends IRL, you can watch in real time how attitudes shift here in the following few months.

Why should anyone put on a show that lets you feel "playful, exuberant, rebellious" if soaking in ""tech" culture" has caused the attitude of regular people to come out of alignment with the safe-for-tv entertainment you seek?

The article isn't about "enjoying unaccustomed courtesy and understanding from the world." It's about the author's experience on a year long vacation. "Actually, depression isn't that bad because I don't have to work" has not been the experience of anyone I know. All this article does is minimize the very real suffering that many people are experiencing.