I've spent much of my time since Spring 2012 in #IRC. It's where I met some of my most important associates. However, I've largely kept to my own network, CoderNet, since mid-2017.

FWIW: I was involved as a bystander in the self-destruction of #Freenode and I haven't gone back to either of the offshoots since then.

I do spend some time in EdgyNet, the gamedev network that is run by Edgy McEdge aka Stella Valkyrie. I've known Edgy for about 8 years and I try to offer support.

I used to run an active 60-person channel in Freenode. Things change. These days, there is very little random discussion in my network or EdgyNet. However, IRC in general remains the go-to for simple, lightweight, and secure text chat [ provided that secure mode is used ].

In IRC, there is no corporation that believes it owns you, that focuses on selling flashy add-ons, and that relays everything which is said to other corporations and to the government.

The protocol is super-light. High-school students used to revel in making their very own IRC bots. It's also easy to add IRC support to game worlds and to keep an eye on the worlds that way.

One IRC issue is that a bouncer is helpful. Enter "bip". I run a tweaked "bip" setup and it works fine. For people who want a web gateway, I run TheLounge.

The remaining part is the question of the IRC client. For Linux and Windows, there's #HexChat, irssi, and weechat. Or just a web browser if an IRC network includes TheLounge. For Android, there's Revolution IRC. I don't have an iOS device, so I can't comment on that.

In short, IRC is great. If you'd like to talk to me in real-time, my network is presently:

Network name: CoderNet
IRC host: irc.oldcoder.org
IRC classic port: 6667
IRC secure port: 6697
Web gateway: irc.minetest.org

It isn't essential to join a channel, but if you make it into the network, try:
/join #ventures

To ping me, try:
/msg OldCoder Hello

I'm online 24 hours, some days, subtracting intermittent sleep, errands, or trips to different cities. The errands typically take two hours and the trips typically take a full day.

Illustration: GenAI. A deity offers IRC, the simple and sensible #FOSS chat system, to the viewer.