This seems bad and everything, but the alternative of actually having to mix with people seems worse.

There's definitely a need for us to learn from each other, but we have fewer and fewer opportunities to do that, as Qaz has mentioned. The value of being a person to another person has just decreased and people aren't finding that most people cross that "is it worth it?" barrier. We just need to stop pretending the old system isn't breaking and move on fully. I think part of the problem is we're trying to stay tied to the gay 90s and are too afraid of the cyberpunk future. The more policies put into place that reflect this, the more we'll feel the strain.