Completely anecdotal but all the young couples I know getting married have all met in real life, no exceptions. It makes me suspect HN’s claim that everybody meets online today. My anecdotal experience says it’s exactly the opposite.
I was actually trying really hard to date people in person too, I was going to tons of meetups, and getting some dates out of that, it just so happened that the woman I'm marrying ended up being someone that messaged me on an online dating app four years ago.
I do know married couples that met through Meetup and other in-person methods as well, so online is definitely not everyone's only option anymore, but online is a definitely viable option.
For my fiancee and I, we know lots of couples through our friends and including through each other's work. The number that have met online is miniscule. "meeting people" is easy online, but relationships are hardfought when that's the start.
I did online dating in my 20s, matchmaking in my 30s and finally met my fiancee in my neighborhood bar (we don't drink, it just happened we were both there not drinking).
Yeah. I "dated" online but it was a total waste of time. The only sparks I've ever gotten were from people I met naturally.
I have two pretty young friends (early 20s) - one met his significant girlfriend through other friends on a night out. The other met his girlfriend online. They're both pretty happy.