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Why Are We So Lonely and Paranoid?
Of all the post-pandemic predictions I made during the early days of Covid, this one is my most off target:
“When Covid ends, we affection-deprived souls will seek out lots of joyful human interaction…and perhaps usher in a [shagadelic] libertine era not experienced since the late 1960s.”
[Thud.]
Three years since we cloistered ourselves at home and learned how to operate at work remotely, I believe that an alarming number of people remain hidden in their shells, unable to reestablish real life relationships with other humans. Simply stated, they struggle to engage as affectionate, caring human beings.
I really thought that the Summer of 2021 would be The Summer of Love 2.0.
It didn’t happen. And numerous studies indicate that people are not seeking anything close to a tactile form of interpersonal connection.
What has happened instead frightens me. Some people, shut off from other humans for three years, have become paranoid and fearful. Their autonomic “fight or flight” impulses are dialed up to 11. Forbes and other media report that the senses of such people, raw from disengagement, render them volatile at home and on-the-job.
