This is from an article [link] about the shooter:
Isolation is the root of the problem, said Carolyn Wolf, senior partner at Abrams Fensterman, a New York law firm that specializes in mental health issues.
In a society where online social networks often replace interpersonal social networks, people become detached.
"The Internet allows for isolation. As a result we have less interpersonal communication and fewer opportunities to identify this behavior and intervene before something as tragic as this happens," Ms. Wolf said.
As people separate themselves from each other, they become less keen to simple human mannerisms -- facial expressions, voice tones, behavioral cues -- that indicate when someone is having a problem. And because dealing with a problem face to face is becoming ever rarer, many do not trust themselves to confront someone who seems distressed, even if they recognize warning signs.
"People probably noticed weird behavior but didn't really know what to do with it," Ms. Wolf said. "People don't trust their gut instincts as much as they used to because they're not interacting as much as they used to. So they second-guess themselves or they decide not to deal with it."
That's right. The internets did it.
One, if I started posting my plans for punishing the world because I haven't had sex this century, I trust that one of y'all would try to do something about it. Two, I would be more isolated without the internet. I was not social person before the internet. Three, no one did anything about Charles Whitman or Richard Speck before the web was a gleam in Berners-Lee's eye. When in human history have people thought, "That guy is acting kind of weird. I'd better do something before he starts randomly killing people?"