Jackson argues that a new consciousness arrayed these hard facts of life along the yardstick of advancement…These changes were largely brought about by global industrialization, which secured our “mounting dependency on clocks in offices, factories, schools and homes—clocks that not only measured time, but controlled it.” Clever and rapacious marketing firms of the twentieth century promoted the “awareness of chronological milestones” that often coincided with the consumption of entertainment products, arrangements for vacation, or the purchase of a new car or home. The death knell that clanged, however distantly, at midlife carried new emotive force proportional to one’s failure to meet certain expectations. Now more than ever, time could be irretrievably wasted.

In the Hedgehog Review, I wrote about the midlife crisis in an not-entirely dismissive manner. (2022)