It's perhaps just worse storytelling.
Ariam was just a prop in my eyes. She wasn't successful as a character at all. I felt nothing when she died.
Then in TNG there's Sito Jaxa who got less time, less episodes, just less overall. Yet the episode was 100x more successful at making you feel for her and Picard. Picard BARELY emoted but you could SEE the pain. On the other hand Michael is running around saying "I love you!" and everyone is practically crying, it's just so over the top... Maybe that makes it less believable? Honestly haven't watched the episode for years now, I just remember it failing.
Another comparison I could make is the little girl in the first hunger games. People hated that she was killed and would cry. But those people read the book. They had some context. I, who had no context from the book having never read it was like "that girl had like 4 lines so I don't care". Context matters.
Sito Jaxa was done better than both.
View attachment 707093