this is simple. after the internet esp the hierarchy completely flipped:
before: survival → family → companionship → self
now: self → career → lifestyle → maybe companionship
social media made the self the protagonist of every story. & capitalism funds the crap out of it too (e.g. constantly marketing to you about self improvement)
the modern individual ends up kinda perfectly optimized for independence, & perfectly incapable of interdependence. everything external like partners, friends, even family is judged by whether it enhances the self, not whether it anchors it. you’ll see this in therapy talk all the time about cutting ppl off etc.
it’s efficient as hell, & amazingly tragic. we sorta built a culture where everyone is their own god, & but no one has a congregation.
It's actually mysterious how many smart single people there are that cannot find a partner.
So many people want a well-defined thing, and that thing exists in droves, and they cannot find it. Also it's each-other.