This thread is a good example of why the paranormal isn't mentioned as much as it used to be, but I can attempt to break it down somewhat. Largely the internet is to blame, but I'll elaborate.
1. Diminishing relevance of folklore. As mentioned in the OP, people tend not to tell folktales as much as they used to - certainly not in the West - additionally, people tend not to tell jokes as much as they used to. The reason why these two practices have diminished are the same. Socialising has changed and largely gone from offline to online. Friends can exist in the same space physically but not psychologically. Smartphone users are easily distracted and most clutch onto their phones like they have the importance of a portable IV drip, new exciting online content being only a tap away. Additionally, people tend to get their humour online: they know which comedians they like and where to find them, and such comedians can do it 'better' than many of their peers. The art of the social joke-teller is dying, as is the art of the folktale raconteur.
Folklore is something which started in small communities and spread translocally. Nowadays folktales are largely irrelevant, not necessarily because they're untrue but because they have local origin and meaning. We interact in such large communities that spreading folktales of the paranormal on the internet would have largely no meaning and no effect. That's not to say communities don't exist which discuss the paranormal/folklore online and in social media, but these communities have become more restricted, ring-fenced and exclusive. This is largely a result of:
2. The media and public skepticism. Part of the reason why the paranormal is less featured in the media in the 21st century is because of trends. There was a time when stories about the supernatural were popular on television, but the culture has changed. People don't want to be educated by the media as much as vacuously entertained by it. It is increasingly used as a method of escapism and to kill time. Reality TV and celebrity culture are massively popular and these attract far more awe from the public than stories of ghosts would. Social media has made people more interested in aspiring to glamorous lifestyles and looks, and television and the tabloids have picked this up. As a result, it is not worth the time or money for the papers or television networks to report stories of the paranormal as much as it use to be. Seeing as such stories are likely to get buried, this results in an increasing skepticism from the general public if they do appear.
3. Technology. Nowadays cameras are everywhere - on the streets, in peoples' homes and in their pockets. Technology has made the modern man more confident that everything is explicable with modern technological know-how and that we live in the most enlightened times the human race has ever seen. As a result, unless something paranormal can be photographed or filmed, it is largely seen as a figment of the imagination, mental illness etc. Additionally - and conversely, to an extent - if supernatural occurrences are filmed, they are often explained away as CGI, camera trickery etc. It is becoming increasingly impossible for anyone to convince a skeptic that ghosts exist on camera, because footage can, 99.9% of the time, be explained away as a result of a software trick. This has a knock-on effect of the paranormal not being reported in the media, less public discussion etc and the process becomes cyclical. Technology inevitably and insidiously ends up controlling the way people act and think. Technological advances restrict the development of the open mind.
This leaves the only bastion of proof in personal experiences. Only those people who have seen ghosts or had paranormal experiences will be able to vouch for their authenticity, especially so when such experiences are shared. Otherwise, for the foreseeable future, recounts of the paranormal will remain the mainstay of niche occult communities. In a way, this isn't a bad thing. It means that the skeptics don't have to waste their time trying to disprove 'fakes', and the occultists don't have to waste their time arguing with non-occultists. Those of us who do venture into the light of day to discuss these matters outside our communities are met with harder opposition than ever before, but at least doing so maintains an awareness that keeps the topic alive.
