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> gathered around

Yes, because by definition this is a shared experience. Phones are isolating because no one knows what you're looking at and it's rather hard to share the small screen even if you want to.

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young people definitely gather online. people revel in twitch streams, voice chat on disc, and all sorts of online gaming, video calling, and more. these are still shared experiences although they are not in person.

there is a lot of isolating tech (most social media) but it's also quite cultural-- yes it's global, but america f.e. is largely idealistic and materialistic and it shows.

i don't think the mode of interaction is the issue

Yeah the question at the root of this is how much the "in person" thing matters. I think the answer turns out to be "a lot". And back when I was in college a decade and a half ago, I was super optimistic about the internet and wrote essays arguing that the answer to this would turn out to be "not at all". But I think after watching this develop for a long time now, that it has not gone well.

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