Unpopular Opinion:
Everyone likes to say they listen, but in practice almost nobody does. This tends to make most people not really worth interacting with as the only reason they'd ever listen to you is for a few reasons:
1. To say "me too!" so that they can now talk about themselves or feel included in a conversation.
2. Looking for things to reply to. "Jumping in points". This approaches "the worst of human behavior" when the person is looking for those things to reply for purely malicious reasons (continue an argument, tear someone down, shift goal posts, dominate a conversation, one up someone else, etcetera).
3. A means to pretend to be a good person. As in, to deliver fake sympathy or empathy. Or, just to appear like they care about a person and what that person says/thinks/feels.
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Put simply, few people actually listen in order to engage in an actual conversation with someone. A lot of it is done just so that they have places to dump their own opinions, ideas, points of view, etcetera.
You don't see a lot of people who ask questions in a conversation. Who try to dig deeper into whatever someone else is saying. As a result, few people actually have "conversational skills" and as a result, a large chunk of the populace feels lonely, unheard, and un-cared for.
The amount of people who have started treated me like the greatest person ever in their lives from just listening to what they have to say and asking questions about the things they talk about is very depressing to me. It's like, "Have you really been through all of your life so far and NOBODY has taken a baseline interest in who you are and what you like?".
Let's face it, it's sad when several women I've dated said that I was "the best they ever had" just because "You actually cared about me and what I thought.". I am not a catch and when the only thing I have "ups" on over any other guy is "I actually listened and asked questions", it makes me feel pretty bad for those people.
Another unpopular opinion:
People spend too much time on their cellphones and on social media. Cellphones have rapidly dwindled most people's patience and attention spans with all the "instant gratification" such devices bring at any particular moment. This means that any time they have to work for a dopamine hit, it's instantly seen as "not worth the time" or "someone is a terrible person for not giving me a dopamine hit". Ever get upset that someone read a text you wrote, but never replied? Yeah, that's you being a terrible person. That's your getting upset that someone didn't give you your Drugs when you wanted them. Ever get upset at the length of a video, a post, a comment, or something else that is "completely optional" for you to interact with? Yeah, that's you being a terrible person. You're upset that you don't have the patience for something and that other person should cater to you, specifically, because of your lack of patience (a character flaw). If you've been listening so far, you know there's a difference between "it's long and optional" and "it's long, but not optional". Like an intro to a game you can't skip isn't optional. But, deciding to click into a video that is 30 minutes long and getting upset by it... or deciding to read a long post and getting upset by it... Yeah, that's different. Anyone who wasn't listening, will try to argue against this, by raising this particular point and trying to force a "distinction" between the two things. Or, rather, trying to make the two things exactly the same, in order to point out how bad "length" of anything is.
Social media, on the other hand, has rendered most people socially inept and impotent. Social anxiety is at an all-time high these days, and it's probably not a coincidence that the rise of this issue within people started with the invention and mass utilization of Social Media platforms. Places where you can pretend to interact with people to not "feel alone" anymore. Or, places to ignore that you are so very lonely. Social Media has also created very insular pockets of people who never have to consider viewpoints other than their own, thus, have no ability to deal with criticism or even complaints against them. Every perceived slight tends to turn into "you are the worst person on the planet for making me feel bad!" type affairs. Likewise, this has also contributed to people always having "the need to be right", rather than "innate curiousity". It makes them defend everything they say and do, even when it becomes obvious they're wrong or have no way to refute the arguments or opinions levied against them. This is because Social Media, inherently, is about "chasing clout". Or, rather, crafting this "other self" for people to view and worship and respect, that isn't you. It's about LARPing as a personality you perceive as "better" than the one you were born with. Any challenge to that persona is then seen as "a personal attack", even if the only challenge is "hey, you're wrong in this one instance" or "Hey, that really isn't a nice thing to say". Social Media promotes combativeness and lonliness rather than curiousity, humbleness, and comraderie. It has also lead to people believing that most "online friends" are actually "real friends". If you want to find out who your real friends are, you ask them to give you (not lend!) $2,000 and to help you move into a new place. People who do both are your actual friends. If there isn't a person on the planet you would do that for, then you don't consider anyone else your friend either. Social media perpetuates the illusion that "just interacting with someone regularly, means they're your friend". This is something most people figure out is "not true" in High School when people you used to hang out with start treating you like crap because you actually had flaws you never worked on as a person. They figure it out when they lose friends and have to make new ones.
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There we go, two more unpopular opinions of mine.
