When meaning became content

Why public life is still asking bigger questions than the content world answers.

When I scroll through LinkedIn and other media channels, I often see the same pattern coming back again and again. People are promoting products, beliefs, methods, personal brands, lifestyle choices, growth hacks, and very often themselves. Sometimes they are positioning. Sometimes they are preaching. Sometimes they are attacking others to make their own point feel stronger.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with sharing your work. Ideas need oxygen, people need visibility, and businesses need to make a living. I do that too. The question is not whether we should communicate, promote, or take a position. The real question is what all this communication is actually serving.

Because when I look around, I see a lot of content about how to become more successful, more visible, more productive, more independent, more confident, more profitable, and more followed. But I see far less about how we solve the bigger problems that shape daily life for so many people.

Housing is becoming harder to access. Work is becoming more temporary and uncertain. Stress and burnout have become normalised. Many cities look attractive from the outside, while daily life becomes harder for the people who actually live there. Communities feel thinner. People are more connected online, yet often lonelier in real life.

These are not small lifestyle problems that can be solved with a better morning routine or another productivity trick. They are signals that something deeper is asking for attention.

In earlier articles, I wrote about the rise of societal refugees and the decline of religion. Both came from the same observation. Many people are no longer finding enough meaning, belonging, direction, or trust in the systems around them. They are still living inside those systems, but emotionally or spiritually they have already started to step away.

Traditional structures that once gave people rhythm, guidance, community, and a sense of belonging no longer play that role for many. But the need itself has not disappeared. People still want meaning. People still want direction. People still want to feel part of something larger than their own performance.

What has changed is where that search now takes place.

Much of it has moved into the attention economy. Social media has become a new kind of public square, but it is a strange square. Everyone has a microphone, everyone has a message, and everyone seems to have a method. There are personal truths wrapped in content formats, leadership lessons packaged as carousels, and purpose turned into positioning.

Some of it is valuable. There are good people sharing honest work, useful ideas, and real experience. But the overall feeling is still hard to ignore. Meaning has become content. Purpose has become a brand asset. Wisdom has become a format. Leadership has become a performance.

And somewhere in the corner, the bigger question is still waiting with a cold cup of coffee.

What are we actually solving?

We are not short of opinions. We are not short of frameworks, newsletters, podcasts, courses, manifestos, and clever one-liners. We are not short of people explaining how the world should be. But explanation is not the same as contribution. Bashing others is not the same as building something better. Positioning yourself as different is not the same as making a difference.

That may sound sharp, but I include myself in the question. If we use media, platforms, writing, speaking, business, or influence, we should regularly ask ourselves what it is serving. Is it only serving visibility, reputation, sales, or the ego dressed up as impact? Or is it helping people, businesses, and communities move toward a better quality of life?

That is where the real test begins.

A lot of modern content points to symptoms. People are burned out. People feel lost. People want freedom, meaning, better work, and a better life. But too often, the answer stays personal. Think differently. Wake up earlier. Build your brand. Start a side hustle. Move abroad. Become your best self.

Sometimes that helps. Personal responsibility matters, and we should not throw that away. But when thousands or millions of people are struggling with the same things, it is probably not only a personal mindset issue. It may be a signal that something in the structure no longer works well for people.

If housing is unreachable, that is not solved by a morning routine. If work drains people, that is not solved by a productivity app. If cities become too expensive for the people who keep them alive, that is not solved by a better personal brand. If people feel lonely, disconnected, and directionless, that is not solved by another post about success.

We need personal responsibility, but we also need collective imagination. We need practical solutions that touch real life, not only advice that helps people cope with systems that keep creating the same pressure.

For me, this is where quality of life becomes the more honest lens. Not as a soft idea, a wellness slogan, or a nice extra after the serious work is done. Quality of life is the serious work, because it brings the conversation back to daily reality.

How do people actually live? How does work really feel? What supports wellbeing in ordinary life? Where do people feel connected or disconnected? What helps people contribute in a meaningful way? What kind of business improves life instead of only extracting value from it? What kind of city works for the people who live there, not only for the image it sells?

These questions take us beyond performance, GDP, status, visibility, and the endless chase for more. They bring us back to the human layer, where better decisions can begin.

The point is not to stop sharing. The point is to share with more responsibility. The point is not to stop promoting. The point is to make sure the thing we promote actually serves something worth promoting. The point is not to stop having beliefs. The point is to test whether our beliefs lead to better lives, better work, better communities, and wiser systems.

Because the world does not need more noise pretending to be direction. It needs clearer signals, grounded observation, and people who are willing to look at what is really happening beneath the surface. It needs businesses that dare to ask what kind of value they are creating for human life. It needs cities and communities that listen to daily experience, not only to statistics, branding, and image campaigns.

And yes, it probably needs a few more Business Hippies. Not the nostalgic flower-in-the-hair version, but the awake and practical version. The version that sees through the circus, keeps both feet on the ground, and still believes something better can be built.

Maybe the next question is not how we become more visible. Maybe the better question is what we want our visibility to serve.

Because if all our content, products, beliefs, strategies, and platforms only help us become louder, we may win attention while losing direction. And direction is what many people are quietly looking for.

Not another hack. Not another fight. Not another polished belief system pretending to be truth.

A better way to live, work, feel connected, and contribute.

That is why, for me, quality of life is the new success. Not because it sounds nice, but because it brings the conversation back to where it should have started.

Real life, real people, and real solutions.

Peace, Love & Happiness!

Hans van de Rakt