The Loneliness of Peak Connection

At 2 AM, Marcus scrolls through Instagram stories while his girlfriend sleeps beside him. He watches a college friend's wedding in Tuscany, a coworker's marathon training updates, and seventeen different versions of the same sunset from people he barely remembers meeting. His phone shows 847 followers, 1,200 people following him back, and a notification that twelve people have liked his dinner photo from earlier. He has never felt more alone.

This scene repeats itself millions of times every night across the world. We carry devices that connect us to billions of other humans, know what strangers had for breakfast, and can reach anyone anywhere at any moment. We live in an age of peak connection. Loneliness, meanwhile, has reached epidemic proportions.