I'd like to suggest that they are making it worse. We used to play games together on the couch, but now we can be alone in our houses watching strangers instead. Social media in general is making us all more lonely while tricking us into thinking we are interacting with others.

what's the last non-fighting game that even had couch co op?

>Social media in general is making us all more lonely while tricking us into thinking we are interacting with others.

it really feels like maybe we were too successful in solving boredom. why would anyone strike up a conversation at the bus stop anymore when they have instant access to their ingroup and their preferred dopamine drip? the age old wisdom of 'just go ahead, you're not bothering them' is essentially meaningless now. i have apps for networking and finding clients, i have apps for hookups and maybe even relationships, but where do i go just to make a friend who doesn't want sex or business?

Apps want to do too much. Maybe we need apps that let us do our part as human. I don't want to have every match possible presented to me but I'd love to have a notification saying "5 friends down your street are actually going out and are okay to include some new people. One of them loves 80's synth music just like you". After that you decide but you'll have the opportunity to get true IRL interactions...

I think Twitch would occupy the same category of "band-aid" services described in the article. It's a commercial simulation of hanging out with friends but scaled up so one person can provide the experience of a friend for a few hundred or thousands and the price scaled down to match ($0 for most participants, with some people paying for emojis or whatever it is spending money on Twitch gets you).