Hi, @artguru.
Very thought provoking post, as always. You are basically asking Steemians to be human, honest and generous.
That may demand more than most are willing to give.
Some people are too busy for engagement or too obsessed with profit as to care too much about reciprocating.

Beautiful butterflies not only suck up nectar, they distribute the pollen!!

The very title of your post grabbed my attention. It sounded so candid, so legitimately interested.
I think we all want to be heard and liked, but most fear rejection. That would explain people's tendency to create alter egos on line.
Steemit is not different from other social networks in that respect, especially considering that our being liked or not will have economic repercussions.
What are you doing in your life?
As of right now, I am trying to survive and keep my sanity. Not the best position when you have turned 45 and have children who depend on you. At 45 most Venezuelans 20 years ago were preparing for retirement. That meant a lot of good things then. Not anymore. Now, we prepare to migrate, to start from scratch, to go through indignities we never lived as young and have to overcome when our energy and physical powers are not at their fullest.
What interests you most?
Literature, what it can do for people and why it is rejected or avoided.
What impact is it having on you?
I feel ambivalent about it. The study of literature has allowed me to see life and people passionately but at the same time with certain detachment resulting from a certain sense of pessimism derived from the very insights we get while studying it.
What would you like to know more about?
So many things. Especially out of my field. Things that will probably help me reinvent myself and find alternative ways of making a living or alternative, less fatalistic, ways of seeing the world.