When Aeson McKay landed back in Perth after several years living in Bali, there was one major change from when he was last in town he couldn’t help but notice: no one talked to each other.

OK, so that’s not entirely true. People did chat — to people they knew. But when he was out at pubs, restaurant and clubs, the convivial atmosphere he had seen overseas was gone. People stuck to their friends, or their phones.

“I got back to Perth and I was going out to bars and club and no one was talking to each other. Even in those venues where people traditionally did connect,” McKay recalled.

Having built a career in hospitality, curating club nights where people connected, to use the online parlance, IRL, McKay realised something fundamental had changed in the way people socialise.

“When social

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