Peter, I'm afraid you're right about many persons losing a sense of purpose in this Brave New World.  I remember visiting the San Diego zoo,  contemplating the various apes with nothing to do but pick their toes, bored to a stupor.  Today we see that escaping boredom through a zillion recreational entities is the major mass activity of  many Americans.  Soma anyone?
My  favorite solution-- get out in Nature--  which can't be digitized. (and I mean Nature, not a tree farm.)