Was just discussing this concept with some co-workers after reading some article in Macleans that was blaming kids having a hard time adjusting post-covid on playing Fortnite and video games ala Jack Thompson again. Convenient that this video had come out recently, it helps explain a lot of the nuances
haven't watched the video yet so grain of salt but I do think that virtual spaces and computer/phone mediated interactions have largely replaced third places. Not in a good way though, and not through a natural unavoidable process, but through neoliberal austerity bullshit and declining wages helping kill off the 3rd places around the same period where online was emerging as a facsimile