I came out in the 80s, and the impression I was left with was that "gay life" mostly constituted this sort of secret underground society that had its own sets of rules and customs. Even pride or visibility organizations had a sort of down-low mentality to them, at least from my impression. And the bars and hook up places definitely did, and still do. I currently spend WAY more time in front of my computer than I ever thought I would, even when I got my first one about ten years ago, so there is certainly a digital life aspect to lots of areas of our former selves, or for those of us to remember what it was like before all that. But it used to be more of a challenge to find information about gay life, outside the biggest metropolitan areas, then the internet changed that so it's no more than a few clicks away. I think that has taken some of the human interaction out of the equation, so that while it's easier than ever to get all the information and opinions you could ever want, it's that much harder to actually meet someone and see if he or she is the one.
Sort of a typical ramble from me, I guess the short answer would be to turn off the computer, put on some tight jeans and go find some real cock, not just pics or videos! That's how the gays before me did it.