Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and Apple and Disney battle for each of our finicky streaming clicks. Our cardboard boxes with rat traps and kitty litter arrive each day from random warehouses in contracted trucks where every driver’s forward and reverse is recorded and judged; our clothing is made by brands that don’t exist; in big cities now, our food may be delivered from a restaurant that is just a nameless kitchen with a number of brand logos on delivery websites.

The museum has evolved from a place to admire drawings of things from far away to a place to take photographs to a place to take photographs of yourself. Frankly, the video games have gotten so good that they threaten not just episodic TV and other pop culture but also, why spend time with your family even?

As a generation of young punks ages into grandparenthood, the younger folks look at the mess we’ve made with some fair disgust. We built car-dependent communities that ensure we’ll grow old alone. We powered right through the climate crisis, deadline after deadline. We built this isolation for them.

But … then we also left them 97 episodes of “NewsRadio” and the collected works of Janet Jackson.

This year, Styles traveled America, looking for the decadent emblems of excess and inequality, and the quieter pleasures that make up life. We saw fans and creators, lovers and frauds. We may be nationally obsessed with talking about our internal divisions, but also people really want to hang out, work out, make out and dance it out. We just don’t always know how to get it together. Here’s a look.