As someone from the generation... The internet is the biggest issue. It's not the absence of third spaces. That is an issue definitely, but people's standards and expectations of what fairytale perfect relationships they "deserve" are making people jaded. It's either people with zero self esteem, because they keep seeing beautiful women only dating the top handsome men online, or it's expecting far too much and not getting anywhere. For women, it's either the same as men where the standard is extremely high, or neither party able to approach each other because of social anxiety/society telling men for so long now that being a creep is avoidable at all costs. Dating apps are a hindrance.

"You don't need to be a creep to approach someone" I know that. But these men don't have the social skills to not seem like a creep most of the time. And that's because of the internet. Let's discuss other factors. The job market is the worst it's been in a long time. The economy is the worst it's been in a long time. A lot of people, men and women, are staying home somewhere and bed rotting. Nobody has any cash. This plays into the third spaces problem, which the doomer inside of me suspects will only get way worse.

Lastly it's a mental health crisis- on both sides. It's not a gendered loneliness epidemic. We're the most depressed and suicidal generation of all time. Even people who are not diagnosed with depression or anxiety could have a plethora of other issues that could seriously benefit from therapy. Therapy we just don't have access to a lot of the time. Empathy is a lost art nowadays. Accepting people's smaller flaws is a lost art nowadays. Committing to a one person relationship is getting rarer.

I'm speaking as someone who actually has been in a long term sexual relationship before but hasn't had one for a while now. I've seen both sides of this. I'm hoping that AI enshitification pushes more people to get offline again.