Yup.

Unfortunately, I mostly hanged out in music nerd forums growing up and they were very mean lol What I miss is people being less political and divided.

It is the equivalent of punching someone in the face, the people replying are doing just that.
They want that little bit of 'correctness' to hit that chemical high in the brain.

Sometimes it is not about 'punching someone on the face' but the replies of negativity are about that.

It comes from an extension of will, of the want to expand influence, which is how the universe on an atomic level works.
Sometimes it is a good thing other times it is a bad thing and you can tell by the tone of the post.

Well, that's just the consequence of digitization of social relations and the rapid advent of postmodernism. What did you expect? At last the liberal mission to atomize man from his true relations are finally complete.

Not that I'm a very empathetic person either. I actively suppress it subconsciously even when I do possess it, nevertheless the lack of general mass socialization is quite concerning.

Narcissism and sociopathy? That's NOT just modern society. That was and has been SO BOOMER along with Generation X. The DIFFERENCE? You're dealing with mostly teens and yuppies that don't yet have a reason to act a role play the part or humor others WHEN doing so will appease those people. NO empathy is why. Yes, they are tactless, self-centered. THAT comes with childhood and young adulthood, crude obnoxious and combative is part of it. They must gain experience, learn to feel for and put others before themselves. Empathy is selfless, they are not.

that's just the internet

that's from the increase in chronically online people, when the internet raises you instead of your parents you skip normal development uwu

Empathy doesn't exist, its just a nice and selective way of framing favoritism.

Social cohesion is another matter, massive importation of foreign cultures and leftism erode social bonds, the left were very proud of coarsening culture for the longest time, remember the reddit atheist Carlin and his words he couldn't say on TV in front of children, such edgy, very cringe now.

Psychopathy fits the modern agenda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwgoIx7vPTs

Life is hard. I have no time or resource to be empathic.

Definitely.
Myself included.

A lot of people only lack empathy for anyone different to them.

I didn’t have much empathy when I was younger tbh. I don’t recall the internet being known for it either.

The issue for you is probably the biggest users of the internet will always be kids.

I haven't had real social relationship for a long time now, my guess for Internet situation is, it takes a long time to really know how to talk to someone ,to become friend or enemy with them.

most people that spend lots of time on Internet, ending up with no time to befriending anyone, world around them keeps turning them down for they haven't built any deep relationship with anyone.

you haven't been on the internet long if you think this a recent phenomenon