I do wonder if this is really the same type of alienation that Arendt refers to.

I can understand how if you are afraid the neighbor is going to be an informant, you stop interacting. Public discourse breaks down and ideology takes hold.

This seems quite different to me than the type of alienation we are talking about in 2025 from online interactions. I am not sure alienation is really the right word in terms of isolation from a group. If anything the problems from social media are from too much interaction and too much political discourse.

I would say that is completely opposite to what Arendt was talking about.

I think it is the way "boredom" has quite a different meaning today than in 1990. While you can still be bored in 2025, I don't feel boredom the same way as in 1990 when none of my friends answered the phone and there was nothing on tv. 2025 boredom is more the lack of hyper stimulation and hyper novelty as opposed to the 1990 version of going through your "junk drawer" to find something again novel because you can't think of anything else to do. I can't even remember the last time I had junk drawer to even go through.

Who can afford space for a junk drawer in 2025? If junk wants to be my roommate, it better pay the rent.

I'm joking and completely agree with your point about lack of hyper stimulation, but I'm also a bit serious. About ten years ago I started getting rid of things that would entertain me once or twice a year mostly because of the real state they use. Now that I quit all social media I remember why I used to keep all that stuff around.