I think a significant contributer to franchize style commoditized homogenization is modern anxiety. Millenials especially seem near exclusively drawn to the 'predictable' and curated 'peer approved' nature of recognizable 'safe' brand signals.

▲

sph 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You are seeing the effect for the cause. Humans (life in general) are effort minimizer machines, it doesn’t mean that maximum optimization is the ideal environment for a human to thrive.

Any caveman would have loved to have to choose between favourite junk food franchises instead of risking his life chasing woolly mammoths not to starve.

▲

vladms 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

From what I see, there are many people that don't want to be "bored" more than the people that don't want to be "tired". Of course there are many that want to be neither (so we get social media that gives you "not bored" and "not tired"), but I don't think we can generalize for 100% for neither category.

	▲	sph an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It helps to view it under a neurological perspective. Not being bored = likely scrolling social media = dopamine release = the exact mechanism that reinforces patterns and behaviours in our brain, which under some conditions can reach stages of compulsion. I loath to blame the individual when these systems are designed to exploit flaws in human behaviour. I recently read a self-help book by B.J. Fogg, a professor at Stanford Behavior Design Lab (formerly known as the Persuasive Technology Lab) that was boasting how he mentored the Instagram founders and helped them optimize their app for maximum engagement. The book itself was pretty good, but I couldn't help but think I'm reading the words of a complete sociopath that has indirectly caused untold psychological damage, and was pretty proud about it. Is it Jane Doe's fault that she's now hopelessly addicted to Instagram?

▲

keybored 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It was at this supposed peak of Dopamine Fracking that intellectual conversation found a renaissance. Anthropology in particular reached its pinnacle in a unifying theory of everything: it’s just human nature.

▲

goodpoint 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

By this logic travel and tourism would not exist.

	▲	leonidasrup 25 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		"Travel outside a person's local area for leisure was largely confined to wealthy classes, who at times travelled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings and works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures, enjoy pristine nature and to taste different cuisines." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism
	▲	vincnetas an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		well, we are also a bit of pleasure machines also. And most of vacations are relaxing. So again optimisation.

▲

ErroneousBosh 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Humans (life in general) are effort minimizer machines, it doesn’t mean that maximum optimization is the ideal environment for a human to thrive.

My 5-and-a-half-year-old son would recommend this book to you:

https://www.booksfortopics.com/book/the-couch-potato/

It covers this quite succinctly.

▲

veunes an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When housing, healthcare, work, social life all feel unstable, the predictable option starts looking less like boring conformity and more like one less decision that can go wrong

▲

sleepycat801 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's more a side effect of decision fatigue. Millennials are at a stage of life where they face a very high cognitive burden. They're not thinking deeply about it. which is great for advertisers.

▲

zuzululu 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Perhaps but I also think this is just personal preferences across age groups.

For instance contrarians who avoid those attributes

▲

3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲

raverbashing 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not sure it's a millenial thing, but yes

And to be honest choice fatigue also plays a part.

(Also millenials seem to sell some places as "gritty and authentic" when in reality a lot of them just suck)

I'm all for trying new things, but in the end you realize that a lot of those are just not for you and you go for the bland and tested thing

	▲	zimpenfish 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For me (considerably older than millenials) it's not choice fatigue or "default to bland and tested", it's "if I'm paying a small fortune for coffee / food[0], I do not want a crappy serving just because the barista/cook stubbed their toe / broke up / got bad news / etc. this morning and they're wildly off their game." Starbucks, McDonalds, Papa Johns, etc. do not make "great" refreshments but they make them of a consistently sufficient level of quality that you can be sure you're not wasting your small fortune when you buy from them wherever you are. [0] As, sadly, we are all forced to these days.