I don't think that's hard to imagine. I'm imagining it right now. I don't think we're going to get there without some strange forces acting on us, and idk if that's a society I want, but we are more malleable than we give ourselves credit for. People seem to think that life as we know it is life in all it's possibilities rather than one permutation of an infinite mess of dissimilar outcomes. I think the things we struggle over which will determine our future are battles of coincidence and not fated. I don't think communism and capitalism needed to compete through their representative nations in the cold war, that was just the way we dressed up a power struggle, where power struggles are the actual predictable thing.

I'd be interested to know what that society looks like, if you want to share.

My own personal observation is people who are totally absorbed in social media are socially anxious and awkward, don't engage in conversation except about things that are in their very narrow areas of interest, and tend to suddenly get heated or "triggered" very quickly when exploring those subjects.

There really is no such thing as "casual conversation" with them. You're either engaging in total mind-meld or you're completely ignored. I don't understand that mindset, so I'm keeping an open mind, but I don't see how that can't trap a person into a rigid and boring life, where you're confined to your home most of the time and only engage with people who share 99% of your opinions about things that only affect you in a marginal way.

I think we agree. For living that way to not be massively depressing, as you say, it would have to be a different world. Social media would need to be different. Sociological lessons would have to be learned that prevent the internet and social media from being what they are in reality.

Thankfully at least my imagination can step out of this reality. I can see a scenario where people are spread thin and just use remote conversation instead of in-person.

I can see a world where politics and profiteering don't end up in the way of quality communications tools.