I feel the same way. For me, it's difficult to make connections and friends overall. I find that I don't have close friends and actually I have never been in a position to say that I have a best friend, and actually have always been quite envious of people when I hear that they have best friends who they see/talk to on a regular basis. Through the pandemic, this has been quite obvious that I don't have any close friends, aside from the connections that I've made with my kids' parents. I also feel that social media makes things a little worse because it makes it look that I do have a lot of friends, who in reality are simply facebook friends, as opposed to real friends.

But to address your question as to why people don't bother replying...I think it's simply because life right now is so different and we're so pre-occupied with what's going on at home and managing life and work that we may simply be forgetful. I've had a couple of messages that I delayed replying simply because I was pre-occupied.