Discussion Have People Become Permanently Less Friendly Since COVID?

[Celerity]

Maybe I was naive, but I expected people to mostly get back into the swing of things if they didn't suffer a major illness. It's been 5+ years now, and I feel that a big chunk of the population has still not recovered socially.

People seem angrier, more combative, and far less patient than they did before Corona. Social faux pas are, for better or for worse, not as punished - mostly because people are too busy navel-gazing or looking at their phone to pay attention.

My upbringing had serious problems and played a large part of why I initially found myself on this site. That said, I was raised to treat people with respect from the jump. Courtesy is automatic, and you should help people in need. As such, those are the expectations I have for functional adults, and damn do few people meet what I consider to be a low bar!

Do you feel that the world has remained a much less friendly place since COVID, or is it just me?

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

For sure. Lots of short fuses and unpredictable behavior. It seems to me like people are walking around with a chip on their shoulder. It's as if they are powder kegs full of Twitter rage and pent-up frustrations that are just one minor incident away from popping off.

 

[Celerity]

For sure. Lots of short fuses and unpredictable behavior. It seems to me like people are walking around with a chip on their shoulder. It's as if they are powder kegs full of Twitter rage and pent-up frustrations that are just one minor incident away from popping off.

Exactly. Shit goes from 0-100 so often now. My bad temper has plagued me since childhood. I can be very judgmental. But compared to way more people nowadays, I look like the freaking Buddha. It's a bad thing when I'm the most even-keeled person in the group the majority of the time.

 

[Alexei_Kirillov]

I'm not sure if I would say less "friendly," but certainly something changed. I think it's just because of how much time people started spending online during COVID, which hasn't gone back to pre-COVID levels. WFH has been good in some ways but I think it's also made people more isolated and in their heads/disconnected from reality, and therefore disconnected to the things that matter most. They have become unable to appropriately prioritize, to discriminate what matters and what doesn't.

Speaking for myself, pre-COVID I would have some days where I only spent ~1 hour online because I was commuting around "in the real world" for much of the day, but now it's rare for me to ever spend less than, say, 4 hours.

 

[cme-dme]

I've been very isolated and very online before Covid but I think Covid allowed me to indulge more in that behavior and I haven't recovered since. But, during these 5 years I have gone down a route of understanding and trying to be kind and care for others. On the contrary though, many people have been spending those 5 years on platforms like Twitter that are designed to make you angry and distrustful of others. Doom scrolling is a real issue. If you've spent half a decade just consuming content that fills you with hate, it's no surprise to me that those people would become less friendly to others.

 

[Celerity]

I'm not sure if I would say less "friendly," but certainly something changed. I think it's just because of how much time people started spending online during COVID, which hasn't gone back to pre-COVID levels. WFH has been good in some ways but I think it's also made people more isolated and in their heads/disconnected from reality, and therefore disconnected to the things that matter most. They have become unable to appropriately prioritize, to discriminate what matters and what doesn't.

Speaking for myself, pre-COVID I would have some days where I only spent ~1 hour online because I was commuting around "in the real world" for much of the day, but now it's rare for me to ever spend less than, say, 4 hours.

I agree. I think this contributes a lot. Even friendlier people are just not as socially smooth as they used to be. People are less bold (unless they are angry) and are less interested in other people than before, IMO.

 

[Ch4in3dcr0w]

I agree. I think this contributes a lot. Even friendlier people are just not as socially smooth as they used to be. People are less bold (unless they are angry) and are less interested in other people than before, IMO.

Oh yeah for sure the isolation destroyed sociality of alot of people but if someone is nice no matter how awkward they are going to be nice and interested in other people, i think of those things as someones character and i hope it doesnt change that quickly. Also internet for alot of people made them more extremist and disconnected from society and kept them in their little toxic bubble of information (just take a quick peek at what twitter has become or what was happening on tiktok like 1-2 years ago).

 

[Dejected 55]

People were never that friendly. People are mostly selfish, in the bad ways, when push comes to shove. It's just we aren't tested often enough to let it show. COVID did help shine a light on that part of human nature, that people really are much quicker to fuck over each other than to be kind and help in a crisis. I mean, people fight over Thanksgiving sales before Christmas... just imagine how they'll act when their life is potentially at stake instead of the latest hot toy or cheap TV?

People mostly suck... and every now and then something happens to tear down that curtain a little bit more so don't pretend people are better than they are.