Dear Maan, as much as I enjoy reading you, we have to quarrel a bit now... In a very friendly and lovely way, of course ;-))

This hope does not change even if three or more people enter into a relationship instead of two - as long as they do so attentively and respectfully.

In my opinion, no one, no state, no church, no community has the right to dictate to other people how they should lead their lives. Each of us has only the one!
I have a very definite "No!" - psychological thrillers don't generate psychopaths and serial killers by the dozen, nor do people who frenetically play shooting games inevitably run amok.

The gadgets and gimmicks available today, the external stimuli provided by a mindless and meaningless TV programme - they may dull us and certainly have an influence on our attention span, our agility and our sociability. But when did we stop trying to counteract other influences?

Children want to romp around, play sports, climb trees, fall into water and tear their trousers off fences, spill paint, carve wood and shoot slingshots, race each other and bake bread on a stick by the fire... And now we (I don't mean you and me, but society as a whole, the well-meaning and overprotective counsellors and "experts"...) are coming and taking our children and our fancy homes to safety from all this.

We (you know: not you and me... ;-)) are the danger that leads to the increasing apathy and isolation of the younger generation. We are making sure that the joy of life can only be felt and represented virtually. We are shaping this scary future - and our children and grandchildren will have a hard time stopping or reversing this development...

Drugs have always existed, by the way. Originally as medicine. Today's medicines are also drugs. And it always depends: Use or abuse?! We (you know... ;-)) are responsible for drawing the line. But not for prescribing absolute abstinence for each individual.

The so-called healthy family relationships that existed in the past were anything but healthy, but were based on dependencies and conventions, not least due to traditional ideas and religious commandments. I only see the intensive and hard work on a couple relationship, as you call for, as meaningful and recommendable if two people have entered into a relationship out of pure mutual affection and uninfluenced by external factors (not by pressure from parents or social expectations, not by religious rules, not by financial advantages and not out of convenience...) I'll tell you something: there aren't that many couples left. And those probably have no reason to struggle and bend - they really do fit.

Incidentally, my children have all gradually turned away from social media over the last few years and no longer use smartphones either: they don't accept the constant accessibility or the endless expansion of their own privacy... They are not alone in this: so there is hope ;-))