this made me laugh. That's precisely what I deal with all the time. Everyone is weirdly superficial and the second you try to go any deeper they freak the fuck out. Apparently everyone is operating on a level of immediacy and impulsiveness that I can't comprehend. I ask people all the time, why they like something and they look at me like I'm a freak and reply with 'i just like it'. Then I tell them why I like something they look at me like I'm mentally ill for actually giving reasons or explaining the context that informs my interest.
I used to go on dates in the 2000s and 2010s and have cool conversations and feel like I was getting to know the person on a deeper level... that basically disappeared about 8 years ago. Every date I had from 2018 onwards was just endless shallow bullshit or the other person complaining about politics or money. Zero substance, zero curiousity, zero depth. It makes socializing/dating feel totally pointless.
It just feels like people have collectively mentally regressed to toddler-like thinking and communicating any hint of adult conversation is terrifying and bizarre to them.