When everyone was using SMSes to chat, how did the kid that did not have a phone felt? And people were social before phones existes too.
I think that being outside of the main mean of communication is going to have an impact on your social life, independently of what the medium is
There you have it. Class of 1950 uses letters to organize itself. Class of 2000 uses e-mail. Class of 2010 uses Facebook. Class of 2020 uses Tiktok or idk snapchat.
And this issue isn't just about your class, it also includes any peer group of any kind. For me as a 20s something, the choice is quite binary.
Nowadays you can't even participate in free software communities without using proprietary services. Many free software projects have discords instead of community run matrix or IRC instances.
Hey, I might be old, but I still live nowadays too!
In other words: even though cell phones and social media were around when I was younger, they didn't play the central role they do today, so presumably it was much easier for me to do without them and still have a normal social life than it would be today.
Here's a sad thought experiment though: if you can only remain an active part of your circle of friends if you use the same technology as they do, what does that say about the depth of that friendship?
I've never owned a cell phone nor ever had a social media account in my life. Sure, it gets me the occasional eye roll but trust me, my social life is just fine.
Caveat: old person speaking.