1) The loss of God probably plays a large role here. Faith provides a meta-narrative that gives the humdrum of life context and a story arc. Without that you just have a random collection of sensations without meaning.
2) We can't look at the last 30 years as normative. Pop culture (eg MTV) has dramatically increased the amount of drama we feel like we need. My Generation Y has an increasing emphasis on disconnected experiences -- and we have a whole new set of cultural artifacts to show for it -- Seinfeld, Improv Everywhere, Garden State, Juno, etc.
1) There are lots of unifying themes and grounds of meaning besides God -- the motherland, the continuity of the family, evolution, personal actualization, etc.
2) I disagree with most statements to the effect that "everything is different now", though the OP has a couple of interesting points. First -- disconnectedness has been a theme in the arts since the turn of the century (Dada, Sartre, etc). Second, I think that folks sitting around the campfire in the Kalahari probably like drama just as much as we do, they just that their media are different -- stories, songs, and low tech ritual versus TV; but I think the charge of meaning is the same, even if the amount of color and noise is vastly different.
I would say we've even lost that. A hundred years ago people might have hung their hat on any of those things you mentioned -- or more often than not, moralistic religion -- but at least they were part of some kind of grand story. Now it feels like we're all kind of floating out there. We're the middle children of history as Tyler Durden so eloquently said.
We're certainly all hard-wired for a narrative, I just had too many experiences in college, where I was like "Are you serious?! You're re-enacting last weeks episode of the Real World!" :)
The loss of God???? What in the world are you talking about? The majority of people in the US are religious. Religious institutions are all over the place and have huge influence on society.
When we get an openly atheist president, then you can complain about the loss of God.
I'm not about to thread-jack here, but I did think it prudent to mention that, as an atheist, I disagree with #1. There can be plenty of non-religious meaning behind those random sensations; it just depends on your perspective.
1) The loss of God probably plays a large role here. Faith provides a meta-narrative that gives the humdrum of life context and a story arc. Without that you just have a random collection of sensations without meaning.
2) We can't look at the last 30 years as normative. Pop culture (eg MTV) has dramatically increased the amount of drama we feel like we need. My Generation Y has an increasing emphasis on disconnected experiences -- and we have a whole new set of cultural artifacts to show for it -- Seinfeld, Improv Everywhere, Garden State, Juno, etc.