I don’t think they are a replacement in that they work on a different level.

In a way we deeply lacked the level of discussion we get now online, a lot of opinions couldn’t be discuss effectively with neighbours (for better and for worse). I see them as a lot more genuine than any interactions we had before.

Ideally we need both of them, but I think from now on there will always be a split between very personal online interactions and softer “human” interactions IRL.

Not at all. I’m a much worse person on the Internet than in meatspace.

Oh, I see. I misread "not necessary" in your post as saying "people don't need as much social interaction anymore." Glad to clarify.

I see it as a poor substitute. I'm in many many Discords and 95% of the active users refuse to join voice chat. Text is inefficient for resolving miscommunications and it, at least for me, is aggravating when 30 seconds of fast talk could have sufficed

For some people like you, theres no mental cost associated with speaking on the phone. For the rest of us, the mental barrier is huge. Imagine the amount of mental effort required to, say, pack and move your house - the dread is on the same level. Why? I don't really know. I'm very social in person.

Yeah, agreed. I'm also in plenty of Discords, yet I still recall my most meaningful online social interaction involved spending hours just chilling in a Vent server with my WoW guild.

I think this is an underappreciated feature of "grinding": it gives players a great excuse to put in time and build social bonds.

I think virtual life will never be able to fully replace real life. Even more, I think active virtual life can harm your real life socialization.

It's not a sufficient replacement, it's just a much lower effort replacement.