I’d argue IRC was very different from today’s social media. If you wanted to build a friendship, you’d normally spend hours and days chatting with individuals b

I’d argue IRC was very different from today’s social media. If you wanted to build a friendship, you’d normally spend hours and days chatting with individuals before you’d consider them a friend of any sort. With social media it’s reversed. You first friend someone and then maybe possibly build a relationship. All the activities you do in common with the vast majority of ‘friends’ is as mindless as possible (liking something or commenting but the comment rarely has any bearing on the actual individual whose post you’re commenting on).