Much I could possibly say here... but yes, it seems like people watching is becoming a lost art within social contexts.

I grew up in Europe where "sidewalk cafe culture" was very strong when I was a kid... and "watching the world go by" was a thing. And that was OK, it was not "rude staring."

But people watching is also a survival skill, especially for those who might have grown up in abusive situations... you learn to look for little "tells" in how people move, look at you, talk and carry themselves... and sometimes they might save your arse.

I wasn't there during the Discord chat, but Raymond is precisely right. Absent the physicality of someone where we can actually observe their movement and body language "creeping on someone's Facebook" is the closest thing we have to get a sense of a person's world and even personality. In group photos, are they quietly in the back, or laughing in the front? Or are they ALWAYS the person behind the camera? Do they share photos of their dog, or themselves and their dog? And so on, and so on.

Of course, with social media like Facebook and Instagram we have to remain mindful of the fact that people tend to share only the "highlight reels" of their lives, not all the dirt.