Plenty of humans clam up about controversial topics just to avoid being called a "libtard" or "y'all-quaida" on the internet, or whatever the insults have shifted to since I stopped paying attention.

Or at least, such has been the stated reason of various friends I know IRL who disappeared from social media.

You don't notice them online because they went silent.

The actual discussions I remember from the factory job I did in a summer holiday during my A-levels? (Paraphrased) "I bought a plasma TV for my son" "How old is he?" "Two" and "Dave maxed out all his credit cards, about ten grand" "Tsk, he's never going to be able to pay that off".