Relationship forming has evolved so drastically and hasn’t changed for the better. In a study reported in The Economist, it reported that researchers discovered that isolation and loneliness have increased in recent years – hmm, and people wonder why. Humans are supposed to be social creatures yet our socializing, or lack thereof, has changed so much that it has caused a byproduct of lonesomeness.
When you’re out and about alone, who can you talk to? Impromptu social interaction is often frowned upon and met with contempt, as socializing has become diminished to a number of settings and occasions. Due to the state of the world, individuals have a harder time feeling safe and comfortable talking to random people. Most people are more likely to remain closed or uninviting when approached by someone they don’t know because society has rejected the idea of spontaneity and injected us with cynicism towards each other. Men approaching women on the street is becoming obsolete with time as SJW movements against “street harassment” and the advent of dating sites has added another obstacle to further our isolation with one another.
Social media has taken many people out of living for the present. Moments that would normally be private in life are dictated by how a person will be apprehended in the mind of their friends, followers, or viewers on social media and how it will, in turn, affect their status and projected lifestyle image. Instead of eating right away, people are looking for the best angle and lighting to snap a picture of their food. In almost any event, lingering in the back of everyone’s mind is an action of “wait let me get this on camera”, “let me get this for the gram,” “say that again for snapchat,” etc.
Dating has been minimized to a superficial pick and choose game where females hold all the power – having too many options. The overload of options causes their egos and standards to catapult to the point where they only give themselves a small selection pool to choose from out of their endless potential candidates, often resulting in dissatisfaction followed by a complaint that there are no good men available. Someone’s favorite type of music, book, author, film, age, weight, height, school, job, and more shouldn’t be the determining factor, whether or not if you should meet someone. You should be able to meet a stranger off the street right now and get along with them within a three-minute conversation or less. Just don’t let them find out that you don’t have the same common liking to certain pets or else, you’ll hear “Nah, we can’t be compatible, cordial, or cool.” No! Life is much more nuanced; it doesn’t work like that and it’s frivolous to fish and screen for crap like that.
Anyone can conjure up a list of arbitrary traits and qualities they seek in a companion. The fact of the matter is that until you actually meet somebody, it’s all useless. How you vibe with somebody has little to do with such futile standards because when you actually connect with someone, what you’ll probably find is that you don’t like them for the reasons on your list that you’ve given yourself to live by. The reasons you will take to them will often be abstract. Words won’t even be able to describe it; it’ll be an intuitive feeling.
Work-life culture remains blood sucking. We spend about a quarter of our lives in school only to go on and spend the majority of our lives to wake up for three or four decades plus working to build someone’s establishment. What’s worse is now professional settings also play a role in how co-workers interact with each other. Work is where a lot of people formed lifetime friendships, strong bonds, and met their marital partners, but the male-female chemistry at your place of work is being torn into shreds. In this PC era, where sensitivities are at an all-time high, anything perceived as inappropriate or offensive can land you a trip to HR and put your job and reputation on the line. Due to that, many workers are limiting contact and conversations with one another, especially men and women. In fact, in an article written in the HBR, it stated that since the #MeToo movement involving sexual harassment in the workplace, some hiring managers would prefer not to manage young women or even hire women for open positions. The intensity of the movement has resulted in an aftermath of distrust between sexes in the workplace. Isn’t it absurdity that individuals that spend the most time with each other have to walk around eggshells with each other and or avoid one another in hopes of not saying the wrong things? Hell, Netflix has even upped the ante in their work environment by implementing a rule where co-workers can’t even look at each other for no longer than 5 seconds.
Technology advent and the rise of machinery has only contributed more to the isolation and loneliness that we feel today. Social media machines like Twitter and Snapchat pulsate with life while men and women have become robots, afraid of regular interaction in public and even more afraid of even making the wrong eye contact with each other at work. Then when it’s all over, you get your two-week vacation after slaving from week to week throughout the year. Thank you, boss, for removing me from my leash and letting me play outside of your supervision for about ten days before returning. You’re much appreciated.
Our best days, most productive and energetic hours are spent in working in solitude, where you afraid to interact and form meaningful relationships. We have little time for ourselves, let alone time for our next door neighbors because we are both consumed by work. Little energy for thought and no accommodation for relaxation, expression, or creation. Every errand is crammed into what time we have left. Man and society are parting ways before our very eyes!
