Part of that is increased accessibility, but I think the larger part is increased technical background. If I kidnapped a computer scientist from the 1960s and l

Part of that is increased accessibility, but I think the larger part is increased technical background. If I kidnapped a computer scientist from the 1960s and locked them in a room with a smartphone (turned off), it might be a while before they posted their first meme. Now almost everyone accepts that they need to learn how to use a smartphone, while the in 80s/90s it was very possible to live life without touching a computer or mobile phone. In any event, the fact that chat programs are different or more common now doesn't mean they didn't exist in the 80s and 90s. IRC is and was chat as much as Slack or Discord are.