The article may have a point. The internet is full of doomsayers and people who just want to provoke others because of how the online space is now built to attract as much attention as possible. Meanwhile in the meatspace, I had a nice discussion with people and they are focused on the here and now.
You only have to look at how people dog pile any positive news as being 'out of touch' or 'ignorant' to see how bad things have got. Hardly surprising, if all you're seeing online is bad news that's all you can imagine happening. Issue is 'news' sites prioritise bad news because it generates more engagement and so the cycle continues: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4
Have you considered the possibility that the internet was redesigned to pull your attraction towards many fronts that you get too distracted on focusing on what matters in your immediate surroundings?