During the 1988 writer's strike, David Letterman produced some of the strangest TV of his career, with the help of his great director. Hal Gurnee's Network Time Killers was born. @thedonz5 is collecting them. Here's part 1.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oQzixgZC_M …
The difference is that you had an instant, real community to share what you were experiencing. I was isolated until a virtual presence appeared online for me in late 1990. The human contact didn't materialize until years later. Now it's back to virtual.