Yesterday I gave two presentations based on my latest book, and much of what I shared was grounded in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl’s central insight, formed in the most extreme human conditions, was that people can survive extraordinary suffering if they believe their lives still have meaning. What he discovered, however, was that meaning is not primarily rooted in happiness, comfort, or even professional success. Meaning is chosen, but the meanings that sustain people most deeply are almost always chosen in the direction of responsibility for others.
One of the most powerful examples Frankl gives involves people who fell into deep depression after losing their jobs. At first, it appeared that the loss of income or professional identity was the cause. But when these individuals were placed in volunteer roles, helping in hospitals or community organizations, their despair often lifted.
The job itself had not been the source of meaning. It had simply been the place where their usefulness to others was most clearly expressed. Once that sense of being needed returned, even without pay or status, their psychological state improved.
Please note that this isn’t for every case imaginable, but in general.
The Disappearing Systems of Meaning
For most of modern history, work, family, and local community served as the primary delivery systems for meaning. We were teachers, builders, parents, neighbors, and congregants not just in title, but in function. People depended on us. Our absence would be noticed. Our contribution made a difference in someone else’s life.
I think one of the key reasons my wife and I attended the same church for a very long time was that we were absolutely noticed by the same group of people. We got to shake their hands, say hi, and smile. When our kids were younger, they would hold our children when we went up for communion or served at Mass. Of course, the ritual and faith played a role, but the people seemed to be the most important part.
Today, many of these types of structures are weakening at the same time that digital and synthetic systems are expanding.
In 2022, 85 million Americans reported that they did not attend any religious service, nearly double the number from 2008 (US Census Bureau).
US teenagers now spend about five hours a day on social media, and US adults in 2026 are spending close to seven hours a day on combined television and digital video (Gallup).
According to data cited by Scott Galloway, 72 percent of teenagers have used AI companions and more than half are regular users. More than 20 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 report no sexual activity in the past year, and over one quarter of forty-year-olds in the United States have never married, both record highs (Common Sense Media, Institute for Family Studies).
Add to this the U.S. Census projection that fertility has fallen to 1.62 children per woman, well below replacement level in most developed countries without immigration, and that deaths will outnumber births by 2038 if trends continue.
I can read a whole lot into many of these statistics (I’m already doing it), but I think we can agree there is a clear trend here. We are spending less time in reciprocal, physical relationships and more time in algorithmic and now synthetic environments. We are more connected to content than to people and more entertained than needed.
The simple truth is this: slowly, we are spending less and less time with people (even if there are people around us). Then, we reach a certain age where we are alone…and then many without meaning or purpose. I know this is vastly depressing, but there is an opportunity here. Just keep going.
What If We Do Nothing?
Most discussions about AI focus on jobs and productivity. But Frankl’s work suggests that the deeper danger is not economic. It is existential. The question is not only what happens when machines do our work, but what happens when fewer and fewer people actually need us.
What if we live in a world where no one needs us for anything at all?
A world of infinite content and synthetic companionship risks creating a population that is constantly stimulated but quietly unnecessary. You can be surrounded by output and still feel irrelevant. You can be seen by systems and yet not be required by anyone.
Frankl observed that despair often emerges when a person can no longer answer the simple question, “Who needs me?” In a society where that question becomes harder to answer, we are not just facing a meaning crisis. We may be facing a social and even demographic one as well.
Updating Frankl for the Age of AI
Frankl’s insight might be translated into a simple model for our time.
Meaning = Being Known × Being Needed
Being known means that specific people recognize you, understand you, and would notice your absence.
Being needed means that your presence or contribution makes a real difference to them.
The multiplication matters.
If you are known but not needed, you are entertainment (which may serve some purpose, but I digress). If you are needed but not known, you are simply a tool. Only when you are both known and needed do you experience the kind of meaning Frankl described.
This is not just a psychological framework. It is also a strategic one. In a world where machines can scale output and automate efficiency, the scarcest asset becomes human relationship. The creator, entrepreneur, or leader who is deeply known by a small group and genuinely useful to them might be protected not only from technological disruption, but from the quiet erosion of purpose.
Maybe jobs were never the true source of meaning. They were simply one of its most common delivery systems. As AI begins to absorb more of those systems, meaning does not disappear, but it does stop being automatic. It becomes something that must be intentionally built through relationships where we are both known and needed. The real risk of a synthetic world is not that machines become more capable. It is that we forget that being necessary to one another is what makes life feel worth living.
About the author
Joe Pulizzi is founder of multiple startups including The Tilt and is the bestselling author of ten books including Content Inc. and Epic Content Marketing, which was named a “Must-Read Business Book” by Fortune Magazine. His latest book is Burn the Playbook: Are You Made for More? Build a Life on Your Terms.
