It seems like sometime between 6th-10th grade (2009-2013 for me) there was an acceleration in the desire to move online as it promised a new + fun thing to do. An entire second world poofed into existence and offered novelty + space to be yourself that youth are always looking for. It existed alongside the traditional new + fun things at that age like sexpartydrugs and aimless delinquency. Those things still happened but something new was slowly taking off.

It was interesting how the online networks played in the pursuit of the traditional IRL stuff – news of your greatness/downfall now spread in minutes instead of weeks. Plans could be coordinated across towns instead of blocks. It was basically reality tv that we were all playing in... of course it was fun!

I think if things stayed like that, the world would have been ok. But thats now how it worked out, the incentives were off, technology got "better", and we lost focus. It didn't help that the groups running these spaces weren't fully aligned with the people who frequented them. The odds were against us (humans), and we started losing.