An opinion piece by Michèle Mendelssohn and Charlie Tyson argues that modern society has entered an era of "decadence without pleasure": despite an unprecedented abundance of distractions – doomscrolling, gambling apps, food delivery, pornography and AI chatbots – many people feel simultaneously overstimulated and empty. The authors situate this in a long tradition of anxiety about decadence as a symptom of civilisational decline, noting that such concerns, once the preserve of conservative critics, are now shared across the political spectrum.

They trace the concept back to excesses of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Nero, through to the 19th-century aesthetic movement of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and others, arguing that earlier "decadent" eras often produced extraordinary art even amid perceived decline. Contemporary commentators cited include Ross Douthat, whose 2020 book The Decadent Society diagnosed cultural and economic stagnation, tech investor Peter Thiel's complaints about faltering innovation, JD Vance's 2026 memoir Communion warning of American "disrepair", and Italian theorist Franco "Bifo" Berardi's idea of the "slow cancellation of the future". The authors suggest today's version is distinct because it is technologically mediated and strips away genuine desire, replacing it with self-optimisation and hollow stimulation rather than the sensuous, creative excess of earlier decadent ages.