An additional hot take: online communities create weaker links than in-person communities. hear me out please

Not because the connections themselves are less strong, but because they don’t tie to any other connection. If I met someone in real life, chances are high they are going to meet my family and create connections with them too. On the other hand, if I met someone online, they would most likely not meet my partner and definitely not meet my broader family. What in real life could be a merging of social groups, and therefore a strengthening of everyone’s social nets becomes online the creation of a single link, that is therefore that much easier to break off.

right... I can't meet anyone for the life of me and be damned if I give a rats ass about even attempting to meet someone online. it's a ceaspool of distrust, lies and fake garbage online. not a good way to meet anyone tbh..

There's a few star trek episodes where they deal with characters who become addicted to either holodecks/holosuites, or games, but I guess it being a space-socialist-utopia of sorts, they give people enough 3rd spaces and community gatherings, so that its rare to find people who completely retreat from real life, and usually a sign of some mental affliction or trauma.

At least right now, I don't see the US recovering from this... 3rd spaces might pop up here and there, but they'll be increasingly rare, and against the trend of overall social isolation.