As evidenced by your 'hug request' anecdote, it seems your time could be better spent AFK in general and learning how and why people interact with one another. For example, hugging is a spontaneous gesture (aside from greeting/farewell hugs) meant to convey a feeling of connectedness between two people. It sounds like you are actually suffering from feelings of alienation and in your confusion, projecting these feelings onto society and the YC/HN community at large. Furthermore, increase in the use of prescription antidepressants is only a correlation between time and prescription antidepressant use. That is to say, it doesn't prove that people are more depressed nowadays.