So, a couple of things someone else brought up in another comment in this thread is the fact that fairly often, Neurodivergent people who are just now receiving products and strategies to help them curate the world around them so they can function better in it very often did do this. Some of them are probably like me in that there's a feeling of pressure that helps them regulate and the lessened expectations for social norms when they are in.
I agree neurotypical people have taken that and sort of co-opted it (because airpods are a status symbol if for no other reason), and now it's become more socially acceptable.
But I'm probably not a good judge of the kinds of interactions they're missing because I literally don't do that. I can't function that way without heavily masking and it's exhausting for me.
But then I also wonder if it is just neurotypicals doing that. There are so many more people being diagnosed with Neurodivergent conditions like ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, clinical anxiety, etc and I wonder if that has a lot to do with it.
But the loneliness thing I think could potentially b a separate issue with a lot of overlap and so I'm trying to factor all that together and read the article through that lens.
There's a generation of people who have been broken by retail on both sides. Retail workers who are burnt out on interacting with people because so many of them are just rude or antagonistic in general, and people who are used to buying things onlin or receiving a specific "quality" of service that they hold as the standard for everyone and when you add to that the lack of third spaces and rising costs I just think there more to it than "I wear earbuds so I don't have to make small talk with the barista while they make my latte".
There is a distinct possibility that I am wrong just because this isn't my wheel house. Those kinds of interactions make it really hard for me to function and so I avoid them at all costs.