1. Premise
2. Examples
3. Questions
1. Premise
Back in the days we had friends, we would tell jokes to, maybe hug or wrestle with, just interact in all the facets.
I've noticed an advancing compartmentalization (as in segmentation) of human interaction as a product.
At base level that's nothing new – going to a prostitute is a buying a split off human interaction.
Listening to a comedian is a sourced out funny friend.
2. Examples
There are cuddle cafes in Japan, you go to just to lay next to a person for some time. New York apparently has 'professional cuddlers' too. Not to mention, back to Japan, hostess bars where it's about having a conversation with someone attentive and conversant.
Now, the thing that prompted this topic: There is a rather new kind of anime that is described as 'first person anime'. The shows that I'm aware of are from the perspective of a female protagonist, that comes home from work and gets greeted by her husband or male neighbors. Every episode is just 3 to 5 minutes and consists of guys trying to be attentive and nice without any apparent reaction given back, like 'How are you doing? It's so late already, you sure work hard! How was your day … how stupid of me, surely you want to relax and not answer questions … but I wanted to tell you I'm really happy you're back.'. They're basically giving a monologue about how important and awesome you are.
And I just thought how extremely impoverished society has become that a kind greeting after coming home is a product people are willing to buy, that there is a demand for it.
Some examples that maybe get overlooked are game streamer, people that play a game and talk about it. Which is basically the outsourced playmate, people listen to oftentimes while gaming, to have a semblance of a conversation they don't have to react to. We also talked abut 'Mok bang'.
I think the natural scuffle boys like to do from time to time is outsourced to fighting games and war simulations, which is a really bad substitute in my opinion.
3. Questions
The majority if not all of us said they try to keep human interaction at a minimum.
How much time do you spent with compartmentalized human interaction? Consequently which compartments seem to be important to you? Is there a segment that isn't outsourced yet that you would give money for? Like, is a cuddle cafe something you might consider.
The topic is not constricted to the questions. If you've an opinion, a story or another quirky example regarding this development, let's have it.