I definitely feel you, though I do think things peaked in the late 2000s where you could indeed still share a selfie but in a less exploitative and corporate environment (and then hop onto a forum that was virtually anonymous - really the best of both worlds).
I took a look at your little profile and it seems we have many interests in common! I am also interested in permaculture and homesteading, FOSS, retrocomputing etc.
Feel free to join us over in the Matrix room as well at #midnightpub:matrix.org.
Welcome to the Pub!
You're right on the money there - I can remember hopping on my old myspace page for awhile and talking to some IRL friends there, and then jumping right over to various forums of varying interests to discuss other things like music, gaming, and computing.
It's always great chatting with new people who share some interests! each of those things are definitely important to me, my wife and I are working on building up our own homestead out here, and we are both working on some FOSS projects of our own together. Software in particular has been one of those things that has been a constant in my life and I always love building out new things and contributing to others.
Thanks for the invite! Looking forward to the conversations, and thank you for the warm welcome!