gibmiser , 7 months ago

I understand why you would think that, but I sincerely think its a different type of experience.
Forums and BBS were not bottomless content like tiktok Facebook insta, YouTube. Whenever you refresh the page new content shows up. And the content is designed to be bite sized - 15 seconds for tiktok, youtube shorts… and they are mostly passive. You barely interact with them usually you like, share, whatever and move on.

TV is the worst because it is 100% passive.

Reading a book is mostly passive but requires your imagination.

Some games are engaging and require skill or creativity.

Forums encourage conversation. If there was no conversation on something that got posted - be it text or a link to a video or whatever - then the thread would disappear into the back pages.

But I’m open to the possibility that I’m being an old geezer romanticizing the past. I’m not immune to that phenomenon.