New Social Rules

We live in a world where instead of waiting for a letter, a knock on the door or a phone call, we most likely wait for a WhatsApp message or Instagram Direct Message. Sending a message is just as easy as not sending one, neither of which require much effort at all. It's a weird and twisted dynamic. One would think we'd be forming new connections and keeping up with friends easily, and nobody would feel lonely, yet it isn't the case.

Easy access

It's easy to form a new connections with the help of apps and dapps, a surface level interaction, but a more deeper, longer friendship is actually quite hard to maintain and requires actual effort from both parties involved. Sure you can follow each other on Instagram, like their pictures and send memes every once in a while, but to have a deeper connection, you need quite a lot more than that.

Getting rid of someone in your life has never been this easy before, all it often takes is to just stop answering their texts and eventually, often quite soon, they will stop sending them and that is it. In the olden days relationships were formed through mutual contacts, workplace, family and being in close proximity of one another, essentially, coming in contact with someone in real life regularly. Now it's different because relationships are formed often via internet and don't have any limitations in terms of proximity, so the same rules don't apply.

Swipe right, swipe left

These days receiving rejection is also easier than ever before, you can be both on the giving and receiving end of it from the comfort of your own home. The rejecting party can do it basically without any discomfort or fear of repercussion, which can be a lot harsher than it would be if someone were to approach you in broad daylight in real life and you'd decline an invitation for coffee.

Consequences?

Everything works in a much more rapid time frame, we get to know more people than ever before, we have access to all the information, and we are going nowhere a million miles an hour. A constant hurdle of emotions are being thrown at us without the delay of distance or time of the day, and without much filter.

This all must mess with our psyche quite a lot, and I really don't think we have lived in this new world long enough to be able to adapt and deal with the crazy emotional changes effectively. So we hurt. Not from hunger, not from physical pain, not for fear of war, but emotional pain, something our forefathers would have laughed at us for. Maybe acknowledging this makes it just a tad bit easier to deal with.