I would like to add games to the list of counterexamples.
Still works today.
Even though I never made friends online (as I was not so into it) I know friends who did.
Even though I never made friends online (as I was not so into it) I know friends who did.
I don't play online games any more, but my impression is they mostly moved from guild and group style like MMOs, where you got to know people and probably chatted on Teamspeak as well. Now they seem to be mostly random individual match-ups either for pvp or for a dungeon. That seems like it would take away many of the possibilities.
I'm not in the child age group, but I've made friends this way as a 31 year old.