Well the internet let people with these interests to anonymously congregate. So it did play that role. E.g.: search: "I'm a man but I wish I were a woman." Find yourself on some BBS...

This is an explanation I've also heard regarding sadomasochistic communities in the US--they tend to be nerdy. They love fantasy board games, and there's a fair bit of people who make their living with technology.

So, as it goes, they say, the nerds with an SM interest were the first to be able to congregate in meatspace and do SM, because they had the means with the internet to find like-minded persons before networked computing was available to others less technologically gifted or inclined. This supposedly set the cultural stage.

Could be true, but my preferred explanation is as above with regard to AGP. Whatever etiologically sets the groundwork is the same, and it results in an interest in SM and fantasy board games, generally speaking.

I agree with your point about the Internet and personas. In today's culture/climate, identity is everything. It's fetishized. People have been crafting all sorts of identities on the internet. Whether that's Facebook, or Instagram... the medium makes it nigh impossible to see the reality, so the falsehood does not crumble. They're chasing the fashion of the month.

I think people are bored and lacking meaning--another outcome of technology, in general.