Loneliness is far more complex than just a feeling, or a phase, but rather it is a state of existence with powerful ramifications on an individual’s psychological, psychosocial, and physiological health. The proliferation of digital technology may have aided companies in better understanding and targeting their customers, and individuals in more effortlessly keeping up with their peers, but it seems also to have made us idle. It seems to have gotten so close to “the real thing” that it has begun to act as a surrogate for human connection, rather than a facilitator of it. Is it any wonder we feel so detached from our fellow beings? These developments show no signs of slowing down, either. With each generation, our aptitude for technology grows, and so too does our collective experience of isolation.

Things may be quicker, easier, simpler, and more automated than ever before, and yet, we are on the cusp of far more problems than we are solutions if we don’t address the relationship between our dependency on technology and our disconnect from one another. There is no question that we will use technology to resolve the issue, as well. But it is essential we don’t confuse technology for being the issue itself. Technology is only an extension of our ideas, requirements, and experience. The answer is in the way we use technology and our intention for its future in our contemporary lives. With a heightened level of understanding, we can design a better digital landscape for connection. We can demand a higher standard for the participation in, and development of technology. And we can assure that the future of digital allows for us to flourish as modern humans, without diminishing the very thing that makes us human.