I guess you are right. My great-grandparents were already having to do this, some had to emigrate temporarily, others went for the promises of industrialisation. Every emigration means that culture, skills, knowledge of the land and knowing one’s neighbours are lost and have to be rebuilt, and this has been going on for generations (and happened already in antiquity). So yes, this is earlier than our addiction to screens. The screen addiction just finishes off what emigration has started. We now exist in a state where we don’t even want to get to know our neighbour because our interactions in online communities feel safer and we have forgotten how real life interaction works. However, we now have internet culture, something that didn’t exist before - so it’s not unlikely that two strangers can relate over the same thing, where they were limited by their local cultures before and might have found each other’s concerns puzzling.
We now exist in a state where we don’t even want to get to know our neighbour
I understand your overall sentiment, but this specifically is what I disagree with. There are people who dislike socialization, but I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re in the majority. Sure, people might be unpracticed with it, but that doesn’t mean the desire is gone.
I feel like it’s more accurate to say that people don’t want to have shallow unfulfilling relationships with our neighbors, and the current situation is preventing us from forming the sort of deep connections we desire.
Regarding screen addiction, I think it follows roughly the same behavioral patterns as any other addiction. It always starts with attempting to address an unfulfilled need. People seeking social connections, and having that be denied offline, are going to move online for that connection. I don’t think we’d have the same problem with parasocial relationships if we didn’t want friends so desperately that we’re willing to believe in a fiction. Same with brainrot, if we had easy access to quality entertainment, and the time to actually unwind and enjoy it, I don’t think brainrot would even exist in the first place.
I guess you are right. My great-grandparents were already having to do this, some had to emigrate temporarily, others went for the promises of industrialisation. Every emigration means that culture, skills, knowledge of the land and knowing one’s neighbours are lost and have to be rebuilt, and this has been going on for generations (and happened already in antiquity). So yes, this is earlier than our addiction to screens. The screen addiction just finishes off what emigration has started. We now exist in a state where we don’t even want to get to know our neighbour because our interactions in online communities feel safer and we have forgotten how real life interaction works. However, we now have internet culture, something that didn’t exist before - so it’s not unlikely that two strangers can relate over the same thing, where they were limited by their local cultures before and might have found each other’s concerns puzzling.
I understand your overall sentiment, but this specifically is what I disagree with. There are people who dislike socialization, but I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re in the majority. Sure, people might be unpracticed with it, but that doesn’t mean the desire is gone.
I feel like it’s more accurate to say that people don’t want to have shallow unfulfilling relationships with our neighbors, and the current situation is preventing us from forming the sort of deep connections we desire.
Regarding screen addiction, I think it follows roughly the same behavioral patterns as any other addiction. It always starts with attempting to address an unfulfilled need. People seeking social connections, and having that be denied offline, are going to move online for that connection. I don’t think we’d have the same problem with parasocial relationships if we didn’t want friends so desperately that we’re willing to believe in a fiction. Same with brainrot, if we had easy access to quality entertainment, and the time to actually unwind and enjoy it, I don’t think brainrot would even exist in the first place.