Just look at how the reddit protest ended. Once threatened with losing their status as mods, they all caved.

Money and power are powerful motivators, and the mods work for free.

this

Edit: thank you for the gold, kind dear gentlesir or gentlemadame.

Edit2: wow I never expected to wake up to so many awards, who’d knew my most updooted comment would be about this?

You are the only one who decides what gives your life meaning, and you decide what counts as “waste”. If your meaning is keeping up with people who have achieved big goals without working hard to achieve big goals of your own, you’ll probably end up envious and miserable. A lot of people like doing that so you’ve got plenty of company to wallow in your misery with if that’s what you want to do.

I’d suggest finding another form of meaning.