Nowadays however, it can very well escalate into worldwide public ridicule and/or a witch hunt on social media, with potentially career-ending consequences. You are only really safe if you're either extremely attractive (both to initially reduce the risk of a rejection, and to garner sympathy from would-be witch hunters), are rich enough to not worry about career consequences (or your employer isn't vulnerable to public opinion), or can spin the witch hunt for your own benefit if your entire brand is already based on being against the mainstream (think Andrew Tate for example).
No wonder it's not worth the risk for the vast majority of people.
I think your poor friends must be middle class. Poor parents don't have time to hover like that what with sleeping and multiple jobs and all.
This is strongly linked to class. The kids of rich friends have no problem striking up conversations with strangers, because they’ve been doing it at cocktail parties and restaurants since they were young. My less well-off friends’ kids have more screen time, much less opportunity for spontaneous conversation with unknown adults (they’re not taken out to eat) and spend more public time in unsafe spaces where there is legitimate concern about others’ willingness to hurt them.