Right, books and gossip is exactly the same as modern tech and social media. Nothing to see
In fact, I would guess the strongest relationships are those where those are shared.
I made this point elsewhere in thread, but another difference is the daily content aspect of online influencers. Instead of reading one or two shallow, vapid articles a month about "what's wrong with your relationship" they are seeing new content every day, and they are mostly seeing the content that is upsetting the most people.