To clarify, in 1993 or even 2000, you could see a bunch of flame wars on Usenet, and you could ignore them because they "meant nothing". You could dismiss it as a nerd argument that's not connected to your life in the real world.

That was usually accurate. (Although I should say there were very intelligent people on Usenet, and that's why I used it. I learned a lot there.)

It's harder to do that now. You can ignore certain channels, but they spill out into the "real world" quite frequently.

To give a different example, UFC fighters pick fights with each other online, often on Instagram or YouTube. So what happens online is critical to the entire sport, which has grown a tremendous amount in the past decade. It determines whether they get paid $100K or $1M. Real life happens online now.

That's a somewhat random example but there are many many subcultures / industries where what happens on social media determines what happens in the real world.