It's essentially the same right now. However, there are various theories about how and why this happened.
A lot of people are proponents of the theory that there's not a lot of people online because of school and/or lack of time.
If you do want to return, I suggest you wait until school season's over. A lot of the playerbase is from North America, so summer break starts around late May and mid-June. If you return then, I'm sure you'll find more active and extroverted people around. Or, do it after the new update launches. That will probably attract lots of old and new members into the game, so you'll have about a month of excitement before things start to go silent again.
As far as what you've said, I agree. It is rather disappointing to see the community so closed off and isolated from one another. And yes, it is eerily silent in The Grounds. The forums seem more active than the game, and even then, they're not as active as back in 2012-2014 (except for the forum games section).
Remember, this is just my opinion. If you want to know for sure, I suggest you go on FH and see for yourself, and then decide if this is something worth returning to. Maybe hang around the forums and see if you like the post rate and activity.