[sliverstorm]

You miss the point. I'd rather share a fire with living people, than a glowing screen. Even if those people are less witty than the glowing screen.

Not to mention the internet tends to form echo chambers. It's good to meet people who are not like-minded...

[cylinder]

It's not about staring at the screen. It's about using that screen to contact your friends who live beyond your street to come over and sit around your fire.

People forget that 100 years ago that wasn't really an option.

[sliverstorm]

Friends who live twenty minutes away are far less likely to join on a casual and/or routine basis.

BTW, the telephone was invented nearly 200 years ago. Although, yes, travel options were more limited.

[nine_k]

None of us "misses the point", but our use cases are obviously different.

And yes, meeting people that are not like-minded is very important; is it beside a fire or through a glowing screen, does not matter.