Why are most people AFRAID to be nice to someone/each other....?

.... like if you meet a person and you say ';Hello, how are you?'; they look at you as if you have said a bad word, or they just mubble and act like they didnt hear you. Or if you speak to them with genuine sinserity, they act like your trying to be malicous.

Its like as if they scared or afraid to interact with people they dont know. Why?Why are most people AFRAID to be nice to someone/each other....?
Many people are scared that they will be lured in and hurt. I know many elderly who will not answer their doors because they are scared someone will push their way in and hurt them. We live in such a mean society.Why are most people AFRAID to be nice to someone/each other....?
In socety today, so many people feel that if they don't want to say hello then a person who does must have alterior motives. Poeple are just more suspious and lack proper social skills which is a bad combination.
That's a tough question!



I was thinking about two different situations from personal experience.



In the small village where we have a holiday everyone says hello to each other on the street, just as a matter of course, because you see the same faces all the time, and recognise people even if you don't know them.



But living in the big city, its much more clique. I think the only way to take in the mass of humanity is with the ';tree'; aproach. Crowds are just a mass of unrecognisable faces, which we ignore and block out as if they were trees in a forest. If someone I don't know suddenly tries interacting with me on the street, I feel a little taken aback and sttempt to avoid it. You tend to stick to your own circle of familiar faces, and those you meet through them.