heya to be honest on my end and much as i want to hang out
sometime just stay home. i think its making plans but ya know? itll be okay

I feel ya Hon. Truly.
Many years ago, my late wife and I planned a Thanksgiving Day Dinner/Games/Stuffs, for my friends (Right), co-workers, a few townsies/old neighbors we still hung around with (Namely, single peeps who did NOT have 'Family' nearby, who told me/us they had no plans, etc., etc., etc...)
We dumped a few HUNDRED $$$'s into buying everything (The 'Deal' was, everyone attending would pitch in to curtail the total cost), and worked like maniacs for days cooking/preparing/getting the tables/chairs/coverings/et al...

The only person who actually attended was ONE co-worker, who could not make the flight all the way across the country to be with his family. Three of us, out of an expected 18-24. Three. Fuck 'em I said. WE ate like Kings/Queens, feasted till we nearly burst, and then we put some back for the usual left-overs/later snacking, and THEN took everything to the local food bank, to contribute to their free services for the homeless/less lucky/fortunate.

That was my big lesson in people being absolute SHITS, and I never again even attempted such a large thing, and WHEN those who didn't show, didn't even CALL TO TELL US THEY WEREN't, tried to play if off/laugh, they discovered they'd just burned a bridge that would never be rebuilt.

'Trust.' I has many shades and hues, but that's really what it boils down to. When others do NOT respect/treat YOUR time/investment/energies, then they've earned YOUR contempt and disconnect.

I'm sorry you had to deal with such a thing. It's really like being stabbed in the back, for the stupidest f'ing reason(s) ever. Can't make it, DON'T SAY YOU WILL, but IF you can't, at least do the other the courtesy of calling.

*sighs*

I used to call Oct.-Jan. the 'Silly Season,' but it's pretty much descending into the 'Stupidity Season?!'

(((Hugs)))

Keep yer REAL Friends close, an' kick all the others in the nether regions! yeah. ;-P

Aniwayas

Oh wow, that's rough. Never had an event go that badly, as the most ours have are a dozen people. I guess that's how you figure out who your real friends are. Least the food didn't go to waste.

Hard to know for sure. I think we have lost a bit of sociability after the Great Sneeze of 2020.

Yeah, since then people just lost the sense to like actually go out and meet up IRL with friends.

I've noticed a VERY disturbing trend/habit that's been going on and getting nothing but worse, for many years now-

Sitting at any restaurant/fast food slop house, I've seen entire groups, often even families (Parents with their kids!), sitting at the same table, and not a single ONE of them is actually engaged in a real conversation with one another. They're ALL sitting their with their faces glued to their g-damned phones, instead?!

What the HELL happened to people?!

:-/

The short answer is that people are under the influence of a multi-generational program meant to consolidate and seize power.

Unhinged tin-foil-ite rambling to follow:

All has happened for a purpose. They hope to separate the family and increase emnity within it. They will use the 30-year generation gap and manipulation of psychology (inorganic culture movements, planned music, controlled opposition) to incrementally impose shifts to the Overton window regarding whatever is allowed or acceptable. Increased passivity is sought for those people itentified as potential resistance as a preventative measure. Obedient spies will be raised within the family supported by mass surveillance infrastructure. This reduces the appearance of speak-easys and hideouts where dissent could foment.

They've been working on us ever since the CIA got their hands on Nazi intellegence methods through Operation Paperclip.

Oh, you'll get NO argument/rebuke from ME about the very real agenda that sees the 'Nuclear Family' totally erased! THAT shit I know/see/hear going on all OVER the f'ing place (Though for some STRANGE REASON, it really takes hold in any Democratic Socialist/Left/Liberal/WOKE City/State, before spreading out to infest all other points of the Compass, as it's allowed!).

I'm so damned glad I'm a child of the 60's, and grew up BEFORE all of this internet/social-score horseshit! I certainly did NOT follow in my Parents' footsteps (And Momma's life-plan that saw me married off and producing as many childlets as this body could handle!), but I fully RESPECT/ED them and for living the life they felt best suited them/their future!

Leave the kids alone already!!! Let THEM live, learn, grow and decide FOR THEMSELVES what they really want (And who the fuck knows what all of that is, BEFORE we hit 18? I know fifty year olds who still haven't figured it out!)...

*sighs*

Yeah, we're in trouble, no doubt 'bout eet.

I don't have children of mine own, but I'm around LOTS, and I worry greatly about the world they're entering. Talk about a mess to fix!

:-/

Can't comprehend what's the big deal with phones myself.

It is an useful tool to get some info while travelling (maps, timetables), and unfortunately many places now nearly outright refuse to provide service without an app (some public transport tickets), but even then, woefully clunky. Quality is nonexistent when it comes to trying to use it for anything compared to a computer with a proper screen, keyboard and sound system.

When I travel and I need something to occupy me while waiting, I take a book with me. A proper printed book, whatever I am reading at the time.

Then the damned thing is always there while family members, friends etc. aren't.

VERY much in agreement with ya!
Aside from its primary purpose in MY world (Calling for roadside assistance, when needed), an added benefit to the little suckers is their ability to function as a video camera! (My gods, to have had anything THAT tiny/handy/light-weight, growing up?! Yeah, I may very well have succumbed to the technological temptation, too?!

Huh, true, forgetting about that! :D I still prefer dedicated cameras - might not matter that much for picture quality, but nice that it turns on instantly, I can meddle with the settings, and it doesn't do anything with internet :)

Seems like that really broke social life, yeah.

Unfortunately, I think it is most now. It seems few keep to commitments anymore...

I hear you. 'Going out' these days is usually just me and the lady, and often as not that's just to pick up a food order and bring it back to her place. My brother and I occasionally eat out but it's almost always the same deal: get it to go.

Part of the problem is my age. At 68, most of my friends have retired and moved away or died. I blew off my 50^th high school reunion this year because (1.) I've actually attended ALL of the other ones and (2.) too many of my old schoolmates have... 🪦.

Thanks for at least confirming that going out isn't worth it.

Feeling somewhat the same here in the UK.

Here I also feel like that most social events became excessively noisy, as if they weren't even meant for interacting with other people any more, them being there only to have a crowd, environment.

Missing such meets where it was actually possible to talk, get to know others.