Together, yet apart: Crisis of unsocial sociability
Though we assume that sharing a space would foster friendships, the reality is quite different.
Updated At : 07:12 AM Jul 10, 2025 IST
Paradox: Our social existence is marked by unsocial behaviour. Impatience, anger, violent outbursts abound in the modern social world. Illustration: Sandeep Joshi
UNSOCIAL sociability: this phrase best describes the condition of our contemporary life, particularly in urban spaces. We live in close proximity to other people in overcrowded cities with blocks of high-rise apartments standing next to each other. Unlike many American suburbs, where most houses stand apart, some distance away from others, our suburbs and extended urban cities have clusters of housing, where people are inevitably thrown together. If aliens were hovering in the skies above, they would be struck by the extraordinary social-ness of these spaces.
