The early internet was so much better for me. Online communities were based on forums, but there was additional activity in IRC channels and instant messaging. No matter what mode of communication you prefer, you always had a choice.
Today? It's just instant messaging (Discord) and quasi-instant messaging (microblogging). Forums were given up and nobody gives a single shit about filling the huge hole left behind.
After trying Discord myself for a while, though, I realized that I'm actually not even missing out on anything.
Most activity on Discord servers is posting memes and shallow conversations in #/general (or whatever the general-purpose channel is called) about topics I don't care about, between people who have known each other for a long time and are dominating the channel.
The kind of interactions I had on forums are simply not happening.
So fuck it.