Nice! Evidence #835 that ageism is still socially acceptable in tech...
To your point, though. Nobody is asking you to use IRC. The "older" people are only giving a warning: don't build your house on someone else's land.
Sooner or later, the land owner will take notice of all the nice things that are built there and will find a way to extract rent and/or take it from you. It has happened before and it will keep happening until all the coming generations (i.e, the young know-it-alls who think have everything under control) learn the lesson.
IRC is "old"? Fine. Go help build a better alternative, in any small way you can. But please don't continue to build your house on someone else's land.
To your point, though. Nobody is asking you to use IRC. The "older" people are only giving a warning: don't build your house on someone else's land.
Sooner or later, the land owner will take notice of all the nice things that are built there and will find a way to extract rent and/or take it from you. It has happened before and it will keep happening until all the coming generations (i.e, the young know-it-alls who think have everything under control) learn the lesson.
IRC is "old"? Fine. Go help build a better alternative, in any small way you can. But please don't continue to build your house on someone else's land.