Part of that is just getting older. We no longer have the near unlimited time we had back when we were in school. I enjoy hanging out on Discord when I have time. It's not quite the same, but it does have that old irc vibe, at least if you join the right channels. But "time" is the key word there. With kids, a business, all the social obligations in Japan that come with both of those things, I rarely have time to jump on Discord anymore.

But it's also capitalism. It has taken over the internet, as we always expected it eventually would. The wild west was eventually tamed, after all, and the internet as well. It doesn't help that the take over of the internet has helped push capitalism itself into a much more extreme form in many countries, the US being maybe the most extreme example of that.

Love your video! As the title alludes to: 京にても京なつかしやほとゝぎす

I often think along the same lines.