Cannot import anything

Mac Ventura 13.4

using Lightroom CC for the first time after happily using my outdated Lightroom 5 for a while (although it had some flickering issues after my las OS update)

I cannot believe it, but my very first time using lightroom CC after deciding to update from my older Classic software, I cannot even import images. When I select the folder to import after clicking 'add photos' it shows a blank screen, although mouse hover reveals the file names. If I click 'add items' nothing happens, then when I quit it says the import is still in progress. But no matter how long I wait, nothing happens. I tried importing from two different folders, one with JPG and the other with DNG files. Both had the same result.