Why are neurotic, uptight city dwellers endangering our social cohesion?

I'm going to be blunt here because these days there's hardly any point in being polite and restrained. Only the loudest voices, the shouters, all those who really make a fuss about their cause, get heard anyway. The era of the quiet and modest is over – for now. So, before I digress, what happened? As a self-confessed lamenter of lost humanity in our beautiful Berlin, I recently had another experience on public transport that plunged me even deeper into my urban depression than I already was.

Then I saw the earplugs in her ear.

I was sitting on the subway, it was already quite crowded, when a young, plump woman plopped down on my lap. Well, not quite, she only managed to get on my left side. But either way: She! Sat! On! Me! Then she squeezed her backside into the gap between me and the person sitting one seat ahead and, like all of us, devoted herself to her phone.

I looked at her, nothing happened. Not that I'm not used to it by now, but I, the naive almost-boomer, the old-fashioned, polite aunt, the backward old woman, was actually waiting for an apology. I know, pretty stupid. When nothing happened, I wanted to ask her if there was anything else coming, but then I saw the earbuds in her ear. She was wearing headphones too, like almost everyone in Berlin.

The reasons for this are likely varied: noise-canceling headphones, podcasts, phone calls. Or simply a desire to escape the city's madness, where you have to be prepared for anything every day. Especially the sheer amount of madness. But being the sociable person I am, I often ask for directions, offer compliments, or strike up a friendly conversation. After all, I've met husbands and friends that way. But because I overlooked my headphones, I'm now just met with blank stares. Few people bother to remove them; most simply walk on. Of course, they can't hear me.

But what will become of humanity, I wonder, if everyone lives only in their own ego bubble? And this for us humans, who are social beings, evolutionarily still sitting around the campfire – and who would wither away without others. I can understand that the sounds of a city in post-capitalism can be overwhelming, but we'll all become psychological wrecks even faster if we isolate ourselves, become deaf to environmental sounds and our fellow human beings. So, unplug yourselves, look others in the eye, be aware of each other! Mars isn't colonized yet; you don't have a choice anyway.