Seems really sad that we're forced to choose between our own wellbeing and participating in broader culture.
Have to point out, though, it seems the one place where everything isn't toxic seems to be (certain forms of) orgnanised religion.
Maybe the lesson there is that organization is the evil, given that it seems to pop up in so many contexts (megacorps < small businesses, megachurches < community organizations, public schooling < small private/parochial/charter schools, big government < grassroots organizations). Would make sense, since an organization, by definition, is about subsuming what individually makes you happy so you can be a part of something bigger. The bigger the organization grows, the less it can fit the authentic selves of the people who support it.
* As a group grows it gets worse at serving each individual's needs.
* Large groups outcompete and disrupt small ones.
I think the trick is for small groups to be illegible to the outside world.
Fish school, birds flock and animals herd partly to avoid predators. I wonder if multiple schools/flocks/herds are always superior to a single one, as long as each of them is above some critical threshold.
That doesn't happen.
Perhaps what we are seeing is a generalization of religion in which certain aspects of social concern have effectively become religious exercise. This might be a challenging thesis to sustain, but where parallels can be found it might give some broader insight into the present moment.