Yes, I definitely think there is something to this. However, I don't think people who have busy lives don't necessarily see things for how they are. They just have less time to dwell on it.
Plus- if you HAVE to participate. If you aren't being supported financially by either your family or by state benefits- somehow you have to make it through. Work is utterly exhausting. If you're also battling thoughts on how awful and pointless it is the entire time- it can make things feel even worse.
Plus- other people will likely get fed up with it. If you're customer facing too- you may get into trouble for always looking so miserable- I used to! I think people put on an act in order to fit in and keep their jobs a lot of the time.
Plus- just to make it more bearable for them and others- to distract themselves. That can include chatting to colleagues with small talk, distacting yourself after work with media. It doesn't necessarily mean they don't see things for how they are though. Look at how much people moan about their lives, their governments.
I think perhaps it comes down to contrast too- and- money of course. For a few periods recently, I've been between jobs. Those periods weren't good but they weren't terrible either. I just spent my time on this forum and playing games. I had no real motivation to do anything else. Now, I do have work and it's likely to soon get very full on for me. I'm exhausted. My body hurts from the physicality of it. So- now I'm grateful for time off. I'm desperate just to rest and sometimes- my mind just doesn't want to think about the depressing futility of it all- I just want to lose myself in YouTube or something.
Plus, HAVING to do things you REALLY don't enjoy for hours on end each day I think makes you start to crave doing nicer things. If life is just kind of comfortable but dull, I think we feel less motivation to change it. When more unpleasant elements start being introduced in a big way- like working an exhausting 9-5, I think we start thinking- is this really all there is to life? So- maybe people feel more motivated to seek out other things that they enjoy. And with regular employment- they have the funds to be able to do more exciting stuff.
Of course- it still is pretty futile but again- to some extent, I wonder if it hinges on whether someone knows whether they can just give up. Some people simply can't just give up. Or- the alternative of becoming homeless scares them. So- I reckon for them, they just try and make the best of it. For others though- maybe they are just so caught up in 'the system', they don't question if there's anything wrong with it.
