Number of young people with no close friends has soared since 2014 in England

For the Inner Party of an Orwellian plutocracy, this sounds just about perfect. Poor, powerless masses, with Big Brother on their telescreen...er, I mean engagement-maximizing social media on their smartphone, as their only meaningful relationship.

But while Orwell may have been right about how horrible it could be, I suspect his O'Brien character was far too optimistic about the long-term stability of such systems.

Interesting