100% agree.

It’s very lonely and isolating to avoid the current, and most people can’t handle it. I constantly talk to people who think I’m the strangest person ever for not being on socials, not wanting to watch xyz… people who say “I can’t believe you haven’t heard that song!” And stuff like that.

Sometimes they stick their phones in my face and show me some clip of something, look me in the eyes, and perform a live laugh track. I usually do an obligatory giggle or smile, but what i’m really doing is watching and studying them. I’m grateful that people try to connect with me… that they care what I think… they are seeking some kind of approval or kinship… it’s very strange to observe… it’s like they have given up agency to connect with meaningful conversation, and rely on proxies to speak for them… but when you let other people speak for you, without being able to augment or modify their arguments… just completely and wholeheartedly agree with them… it’s a very teenage tribal mindset that lacks critical thinking.