We can all be happier in 2024, but only if we learn to actually speak to one another again

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. We don’t ultimately have control over our relationships with others, and a spiralling cost of living crisis means financial stress is never far away – and not something we can undo ourselves either. It’s perhaps too easy to blame the pandemic – a missed opportunity to see ourselves as a collective that helps and protects one another. We live in an era of dating app screenshots and encrypted WhatsApps, where every new development – set to “read once", chat deletes after 24 hours, edit the message after it’s been sent – while intended to protect our privacy or allow us to communicate better, really only reveal how little we trust each other. We don’t send love letters any more – research from the Post Office earlier this year showed 50 per cent of Brits have never sent one – we just text.