I think you told your son the truth.
We live in a society, that is directed by opinions and greed.
Many people believe that we cannot be happy unless we have the same drive to succeed that they have, and are driven by their same dream of what makes happiness.
Most people work hard to possess things that really do not make them happy, simply because they see others with them.
There will be plenty for him to do if you can teach him how to enjoy his life.
Or you could just go ahead and let him live the life chosen for him by all the commercials telling us what we should have, to be happy and successful.
My 90 plus year old grandfather, told me if he could live his life over, he would try to live the happy part first. Because he ran out of time and energy before he got to the happy part.
Good Luck