Unpacking our generational fear of codependency

The Age of Abandonment

We simply don’t believe anyone will stay

Freya India

Oct 09, 2024

Screenshots, TikTok: @yngpolly, @manelique

I’ve written a lot about my generation and fear. Our fear of love, and fear of life. But I’ve been getting the sense lately that there’s some ultimate fear underlying all this, running through everything. And I’m becoming... See more

We’re not meant to be independent creatures, all alone. We’re meant to depend on each other. It’s an unsettling truth: the less we depend on each other, the more we depend on the market. We summon eggs to our apartment via an app instead of simply asking a neighbor. We hire a therapist—incapable of loving us back by design —and forget to call our f... See more

The hyper-individualist finds himself enmeshed in a network of conditional love. I am worthy of being loved only when I have achieved the status or success the world expects of me. I am worthy of love only when I can offer the other person something in return. I am what the world says about me. In the end, hyper-individualism doesn’t make people se

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