Have you ever been on a blind date? Would you go?

[Synobun]

I work in a school.
Some do fine, others don't.

When has that not been true?

also, my 16 year old cousin literally walks around with headphones in his ears scrolling through insta, even when people are talking to him.

Hell yeah, dude's confident enough to not waste his time in tiring social engagements that gain him nothing. Keep it up, homie.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Hell yeah, dude's confident enough to not waste his time in tiring social engagements that gain him nothing. Keep it up, homie.

yeah, to some degree I feel the same way. some social interaction really is tiring, while other is exceptionally rewarding. otoh he has no attention span and massive ADHD (probably entirely unrelated to SM or Smartphones, but certainly made worse by the attention economy).

 

[Birdjaguar]

I think it is just the opposite.
Social Media allows people to meet a wider range of people, more people, more possibilities of finding a match. Also allows introvert people to try to know better other people without the need of a real meeting where they would be unconfortable.

It may be for those of you younger than me. Which is pretty much all of you.

Anyone saying social media destroys socialization skills needs to spend more than five minutes with a younger Gen Z person. Once you stop shaking your cane at them from the porch, you'll find out they're doing just fine.

Each generation adapts to its conditions and copes as best they can. In my youth we had face to face, written letters, and land line telephones; nothing more. We made do just fine. Millennials had it very differently and zoomers even more so. Everyone's "normal" is quite different. We use the tools at hand to the best of our ability and usually within the bounds of our personality restrictions. The level of individual success in finding friends and partners is not connected to the general, overall success humans have in successfully socializing.