[thesloppy]

I don't know if there's ever going to be an easy answer to what changed, as it's probably a cultural result of many, many factors rather than just one thing we can point to.

Some of what come to mind to me are the rise of internet culture & social media which is much harsher and more negative than how face-to-face or phone communication use to be. Likewise internet technology has allowed many mentally ill folks to effectively isolate themselves to a degree that didn't used to be possible. There's also millions of folks these days on anti-depressants that are labeled with an FDA warning that they may cause suicidal or homicidal urges.