Irony

There seems to have long been an impulse, in the young, to distinguish themselves.  It often was an adventure, either geographically or intellectually.  That is: they could travel, and bring back stories of strange customs, exotic goods, and mysterious people.  They could also explore in depth some field of study, some esoteric religion, some philosophical movement, some craft.  There the adventurer gained cachet through the same mechanism: some mystery that they were able to 'bring back' and introduce to others, and act as guide and expert.  

Famously, our modern world offers none of these avenues for a person.  I don't want to imply that any of this is negative: but the globe has been explored, and although travel is still underutilized for self-growth, it's now possible to travel to the far reaches of the globe while only superficially engaging with a culture other than your own; skills can be learned quickly on youtube, the web offers a quick course in any sort of though that you'd like to understand; there are no new religions; people a world away can be communicated with in seconds- to play games.  People still try, and at least at a certain age, they will put in some time and try to understand Sartre and impress someone with it - but impressing has become more difficult.

If the borders have all been explored, is it any surprise that people are instead going deeper in to distinguish themselves and their life?  That the desire to set one apart, when nothing exotic can be brought to the group, is to delve deep into one subject, to- in other words- give rise to the sort of obsessive competitive fandom that thrives on the internet.  Is that pervasive sentiment that nothing new can be brought to bear, that all solutions have been tried, that all arts have been explored- is that not the driving force behind the rise of irony as a dominating ethos?