I agree, OP sounds like he is one of the examples he's talking about. People don't appreciate art or "think it's only to stand out" as some gross type of social construct. People have lost taste and desire for intricacies of art and music because THERE IS NO TIME TO. But when you do get pretty good at one of these things you appreciate how great it is. How many levels there is to it.

But it's easy to think what he's thinking if he assumes people are exactly as the people you see in the movie Idiocracy.

The crap AI spits out can't be differentiated a lot of the time due to the ambiguity of art. I've always been a fan of art that has strong, clear messages. What I enjoy can't be emulated without much more sophistication (purely originally comedy, I still haven't seen be synth'd by AI).

To regain this ability to appreciate real life you need to steal your time back.

It's a fact about life, trauma, and adverse conditions. You lose your appreciation for higher brain activities when you are always struggling to provide just the basic needs. Not a lot of very hungry people are reading Shakespeare.