[cosmodisk]

I live in London. When the pandemic started last year, our street organised themselves into a WhatsApp group and quite quickly majority of the household were on it. Our next door neighbour even made a list of households with the names next to them. Initially it looked OK, as most things when you just getting started. People were offering each other to pick up groceries or some other services in case they can't leave their house,etc. Just for the context, the street is in an affluent area with very high stats on virtually any social measure. Also, most properties are residential houses with only a handful apartment blocks. After only a couple of weeks,if not sooner, the usual patterns started to appear: people were trying to find their position in the group,so organisers, helpers,fools,and other categories started to emerge. People started sharing their nonproblems and asking for help,while subsequently ignoring all the advices given to them. Entire street kept quiet for days about an old campervan parked on the street when someone plastered it with abusive writings,until someone said they don't support that kind of behaviour. Shortly after the entire street joined and made tons of comment on how bad it is. Then people complain about their neighbours without even trying to talk to them. Others pretend they care about some causes,while doing the exact opposite and etc. Eventually the group was getting less and less posts and it got to the point where the street was before the pandemic: quiet, very few know their neighbours 3 houses down the road, social classes,etc. All this on a street with less than a hundred buildings, so I can imagine what larger neighborhoods and groups are like.