While Chans, IRC and the melting pots of old withered and died or morphed into an unholy union of $current_times, there still remain a few of us, left scattered and isolated in the dying Protocols and haunts of nostalgia. But not for long - many among us that lack Fortitude will pass into the high walls of the deceptively greener gardens of social media. They will thus be afflicted by means of mental manipulation and trickery, turning them into beasts lacking Virtues that made the Internet great. A "normie". A most vile and foolish creature that has naught for Fellow Man; an existence whose raison d'etre is to tilt at the perpetually spinning windmills of Labor for a pittance of vapid mass consumption culture spewed by the Satanic Mills of Mammon. Woe, for we shall all go into the night alone.

I used to be a weeb. Not anymore. I think the last time I watched anime was around 2014ish? I guess I'm just visiting old sites for the sake of nostalgia.

I think I've kind of grown out of weeb shit.

The older people get, the more likely they are to:
-Commit suicide
-Die from other causes
-Have health problems that make them tired
-Have less free time due to work
-Have less free time due to having a family
-Develop different hobbies than the ones they used to have

All in all, that leads to less people spending time on hobbies they had when they were younger.

So things like forums or image boards die off, especially when most people just stick to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Reddit.

>>23463
I do wonder now and then where all the older otaku. Where do they hang around? Do they hide in plain sight? They sigh and just join such places like discord and withstand all that putrefaction just so they can share a topic once in a blue moon? I have no idea. If I were to base the answer on myself, then it's much simpler: I see little point in sharing. Each passing year I realize how many people treat anime / manga / games / visual novels like chores they have to complete or things to scratch off a list for the sake of fake worth points or something. I even often encounter people who seem to only watch anime because they feel that's "their thing" like some mindless drone, a different flavour of normal. If I go by that metric, then it's no wonder older otaku keep to themselves, with age this pastime because much more of a personal thing.
>>23464
I don't think normaldry is something that can be acquired.

>>23467
>because they feel that's "their thing" like some mindless drone,

I don't think that's mindless. I think people are naturally competitive. And when someone gets into something, they feel like they're personally invested into it. It reflects who they are, or at least that's what some people think.

Sunk cost fallacy:
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/03/25/the-sunk-cost-fallacy/
Basically, "I've put a lot of time/effort/money into it, therefore I can't give it up now." Very common thing.

Additionally, with the advent of social media, where people can show off to each other (or feel bad about seeing how successful other people's lives are), people want to be competitive in their lives, with hobbies or whatever. People don't want to just be some average baseball fan, or some average anime fan. They want to stand out and be special, rather than admit that they're just one insignificant person out of billions of people on a tiny planet in the vastness of space in a pointless universe. People want to feel important and better than average, no matter what it is that they do.

Books on zen and meditation can help with letting you just be more okay with doing nothing, or not thinking, or not comparing yourself to other people. Sometimes it's good to just exist. But it's understandable why people try so hard to be really good at something.

>>23463
You fell through the cracks, OP. No, they didn't killed themselves for the most part. I'm 31 and for about 5 years during the early 2000s I happened to be a forum admin for a reasonably sizeable anime/weeb community. About 200 or so closely knit group of people. From that 200 sample, here's the info I can give you.

Half of them were done with anime before reaching their 20s. They eventually got into relationships, had kids, etc. Moved on with their lives, many of them even before the forum closed down. Their main source of entertainment shifted to video-games (all the shit ones as you can imagine) or even regular sports. The other half still had a passing interest in anime but not enough to provide a reason for bonding over it. They did their bonds when they were 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. When we closed the forum all those people had added each other on msn, facebook, skype by then. Of course they all were using their real names and real pictures and that was about the time I began to fall through the cracks as well. Then smartphones came around and I know many of them have a common chat on whatsapp and continue to be buddies or at least have a way to contact each other. At this point, people my age are pretty much out of reach, so to speak. They are off to their own bubble and inner networking.

Here's the thing with that. This is also a response to >>23467. Most people in their 30s have no clue what an imageboard even is. Back when we were teens, we just used forums. IBs would probably feel like a shitty forum to many of them. Most people my age are locked behind private profiles on current social media vehicle or whatever smartphone chat application nowadays. If they do meet new people online, it's through dating apps. I know many use those.

Then there's me. And you. Old folk that for whatever reason managed to keep finding strange places to hang out like IBs, and for whatever reason stuck with it. I don't feel younger people invaded us however. I feel it's quite the opposite actually. We're the ones trespassing. Our communities died or moved on and we didn't follow the stream. Now, I'm sure you have your own reasons to have that happening to you. I know I have mine.

>>23470
Well that's a depressing read. I guessed as much with the FB thing but could never bring myself to join it. If it makes you feel better this community is run by a wizard who's not likely to close it down any time soon.

>>23468
I don't see how the sunk cost fallacy plays in this regard because the issue isn't that they don't have a choice of entertainment. They can just watch something else instead. It isn't like a videogame where you have a tangible invest you can see and feel. Plus, even if you're right, there are thousands of anime series, movies, OVAs, etc. that you can watch, so why indulge in what you don't enjoy just because you feel pressure to do so for the sake of identity?
>>23470
>They are off to their own bubble and inner networking.
That's a good point, although I don't see why there was any reason to close the forum. Plus, if so many so easily shifted interests, can they really be called otaku?