I came of age in the AOL days, and fondly remember meeting random people in chat rooms and message forums. Some of the people I met back in the 90s I'm friends with on Facebook today. That came from frequenting the same N64 forum for like 4 years. We talked about everything including our personal lives and in some ways I feel closer to them than the people I actually went to high school with.
I have noticed, however, that despite the internet working better than ever in many ways (in terms of speed and capabilities), that it seems harder to make friends or meet random people. Let's take HN for example, I love this site, but maybe because the community is so big, it seems like I'm just an anonymous figure on here. I'm one of tens (hundreds?) of thousands that visit this site regularly. Do I learn a lot from HN? Of course! Do I enjoy the conversations and comments? Absolutely! Is the platform conducive to casual conversation among strangers in a way that facilitates getting to know someone else and how they think and view the world? No.
For that matter, neither is Reddit.
If I had to guess, it's the news feed mechanic that has killed real social interaction on the net. The news feed mechanic works, it generates clicks, it's constantly feeding you interesting and stimulating information and updates, but it's surface level deep. So much of making friends is being in a group that's small enough to promote shared intimacy and repeated interactions with the same people.
I was a member of a bustling forum with hundred, perhaps thousands of new users a day. If a new user would surface, it would not take long for them to leave an impression even with all the noise. As long as they were posting something interesting to me. I would remember small things about the user that would help me build a mental profile, things like fonts, sigs, avatars and badges, name.
That's been lost with Facebook, Reddit. There is a lack of personality from one comment to another, no distinguishable visual factor to aid distinction or a contrast . I think Humans appreciate the slight difference to tell people apart. Aside from a username, maybe it is not enough.
In my opinion it's due to the gargantuan number of people on this site and Reddit. On some of the smaller subreddits, you do learn to recognize people by username.
I have noticed, however, that despite the internet working better than ever in many ways (in terms of speed and capabilities), that it seems harder to make friends or meet random people. Let's take HN for example, I love this site, but maybe because the community is so big, it seems like I'm just an anonymous figure on here. I'm one of tens (hundreds?) of thousands that visit this site regularly. Do I learn a lot from HN? Of course! Do I enjoy the conversations and comments? Absolutely! Is the platform conducive to casual conversation among strangers in a way that facilitates getting to know someone else and how they think and view the world? No.
For that matter, neither is Reddit.
If I had to guess, it's the news feed mechanic that has killed real social interaction on the net. The news feed mechanic works, it generates clicks, it's constantly feeding you interesting and stimulating information and updates, but it's surface level deep. So much of making friends is being in a group that's small enough to promote shared intimacy and repeated interactions with the same people.