The new thing might be that some people who would otherwise prefer the company of people over animals can't get it and settle for a pet instead. Articles on the

The new thing might be that some people who would otherwise prefer the company of people over animals can't get it and settle for a pet instead. Articles on the "loneliness epidemic" get posted quite frequently on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=loneliness https://hn.algolia.com/?query=loneliness