Besides the well-repeated “lack of (free) third places”, and the sense that connection is being monetized online (and the feeling of disturbing mini-dystopian “we have online to connect everyone but we are more isolated than ever”), there’s also the problem of people “not mentally up for” making a connection (going to work, home, at night, etc.) that makes people less receptive than usual, whatever ‘usual’ would be. The main difference in a stranger and someone you may meet for the first time is so contextual too, it’s just abnormal to convey the same information of blurting out all your interests and status to a stranger (which still doesn’t capture integrity of a person anyway).
Besides the well-repeated “lack of (free) third places”, and the sense that connection is being monetized online (and the feeling of disturbing mini-dystopian “we have online to connect everyone but we are more isolated than ever”), there’s also the problem of people “not mentally up for” making a connection (going to work, home, at night, etc.) that makes people less receptive than usual, whatever ‘usual’ would be. The main difference in a stranger and someone you may meet for the first time is so contextual too, it’s just abnormal to convey the same information of blurting out all your interests and status to a stranger (which still doesn’t capture integrity of a person anyway).