All this was completely obvious to anybody paying even a little bit of attention. Sadly their voices got shut out of the conversation; their proponents yelled at, called horrible names, etc.
What society did over the last two and a half years is shameful. Society encouraged and cheered on what is basically mental illness.
https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older...
Humans are social animals. COVID response policy to encourage more physical isolation could have deadly implications.