We have reached an era where humans don’t need humans physically; relationships are more virtual and this trend will be accelerated. Indeed, the new technologies have created a generation of solitary people who are satisfied to be connected just with their devices. It seems that people aren’t really comfortable with real relationships: it is more painful, exhausting or awkward for them.
The need for friendship is less important; people are looking for entertainment and friendship, which is not a really good provider of such a thing. Youtube is an on demand friend: when you call him he comes, and you’re fed up with him, you zap him or turn off your computer. Youtube is a great friend because you can choose exactly what you want to hear from him, it is resourceful, and you never get disappointed.
But a friendship is not only speaking, so how do people get rid of their anxiety, frustration or anything else like that? We already know it. They also use Internet, it is called social media. Why do you think so much garbage is spread on the internet? It’s simply because people feel lonely and they want to feel listened to, which explains why the messages can be offensive and disrespectful. People crave attention no matter what.
So, welcome to the age of the outsourced friendship! We live our relationships very far from our home, on IT servers. There is no need for reciprocity and there is no need for benevolence. Either you take whatever you want or you can dispose all your mental refuse. This is just the beginning. Soon we will replace our physical humans with robots gifted with AI which enables them to console our pain and tell us what we want to hear. We are becoming spoiled grow-ups like little gods living alone safeguarded from a real human existence.
