> My experience completely laughs in the face of this, probably because I've never used Instagram or TikTok, and deleted my Facebook account a decade ago. But t

> My experience completely laughs in the face of this, probably because I've never used Instagram or TikTok, and deleted my Facebook account a decade ago. But the friendships I've had online have been far closer and more engaging than anything that I could have ever had with a "Real Human". Sometimes you live in an area where people hold different values than you, or have hobbies that are pretty far detached from what you'd prefer to do. Maybe they have political leanings that don't make you comfortable, or kind of expect you to participate in those activities that you don't care for, to fulfill your "role" in society. In those cases, finding interest groups and communities online that aren't limited to incidentally being in your proximity feels like a good thing! Same for various support groups, or even being able to find information online easily nowadays by content creators! Nothing wrong with any of that at all. In addition, it's also easier to handle people that you don't want to engage with (blocking) vs IRL. Just watch out for parasocial aspects and takes by terminally online people or influencers.