I think we have a generalized understanding that people are talking less these days, or talking past each other, and that religion and neighborhoods have declined in terms of gluing us together. Steve Jobs and Tim Cook and some Chinese guys and Kevin Systrom created our new glue, i.e. phones and apps, and we haven’t necessarily been the same since. That’s a generalized narrative, as I try (and sometimes succeed/sometimes fail) to have longer, deeper conversations with people, but it’s a true narrative at some level too.
I got two newsletters just now that kinda elaborate on this in different ways. One links out to an article about political polarization, featuring this part:
As society sorts into “liberal” and “conservative” lifestyles, people grow more invested in policing the borders between “us” and “them.” And as people’s alliances focus on hostility toward those who disagree, they become more conformist and intolerant of differences among allies.
People grow less able to navigate disagreement, eventually developing into citizens who believe that democracy is possible only when everyone agrees with them. That is a profoundly antidemocratic stance.
