Remote social catchups are less intimate

As an introvert I really like catching up with good friends in small groups. But a video/remote catchup is much less intimate than real life because only one person can talk at a time.

When you get 4 or more people in a group setting, frequently the conversation splits into smaller subgroups. The subgroups let people intermingle and participate in topics they’re more interested in while all being together.

With a video call you can’t easily do this splitting and only one person can talk at a time. This means the people who talk the most or the loudest get all the conversation, and people can’t split off the topic onto tangents.

I’m not sure whether it’s possible to translate something so natural in a physical setting as splitting conversations into a virtual setting.