I think it's social anxiety that has increased as communication barriers around the world are broken down by technology.
We live in a fantastic age of communication - if someone had said to me in 1995 that in 20 years time the majority of the population will carry a device in their pocket that will allow them to speak, send text or email to anyone else on the planet and access all information known to man, I would have laughed. Yet now we seem more insular than ever - it's just that forums and message boards and social media exists so that we all know that we are lonely, yet few of us try to deal with it.
Problem is too many people expect to solve their loneliness without putting any effort in themselves. "Nobody wants to talk to me!" they wail from behind their crumb-laden keyboards in a house they haven't left in days. Cold hard fact is that unless they get out there and make themselves known to the world, nobody knows they even exist.
Fortunately it's the fact that places like this exist (and meetup.com) that we can all work together to alleviate loneliness and reach out to others. I live alone now after my leaving a very unhappy marriage, so I knew that I needed to make my presence known to the world. I've joined a writers group which is lots of fun and has inspired me to write my 3rd novel, and next week I am meeting some people via meetup.com who all suffer from social anxiety, with another social meet in August with a different group. So yes, finding a group of people with similar interests seems to work still.
Like anything in life, I knew that I had to put in the leg work. I knew nobody's going to just knock on my door (sorry guys, the sexy new neighbour asking to borrow some sugar only happens in commercials
) It's early days but an exciting future lies ahead