If social media disappeared tomorrow, would we still keep up with one another?
u/whiskeybacon. “My office setup, 2004.” Reddit, r/2000sNostalgia, 16 June 2013, https://www.reddit.com/r/2000sNostalgia/comments/1af87ri/my_office_setup_2004/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
The year is 2006. The streetlights just came on and it’s time to get my daily hour of screen time. I use my big toe and press and hold the large round button on the desktop sitting on the floor. I hear a hum and wait a few minutes until it’s time to type the family password in so that I can access the computer. I instantly open Internet Explorer and begin playing dress-up games, chatting with strangers on Habbo Hotel, and emailing my closest friends. After an hour I log off, and I am completely disconnected from the internet. This experience feels foreign to me now. These days, the main disconnection I feel is with humans.
There was a time that access to the internet required multiple cords and being stationary. Stepping away from the computer meant losing complete access to whatever was on the screen. Today, our inability to log off with ease can be overwhelming. We can easily stream our favourite shows, catch up to what is happening in the news, and see what a friend or acquaintance is up to with a tap on a screen.
Keeping up with the lives of others has become effortless. Our constant access to each other’s lives and whereabouts has created parasocial relationships with one another that build a false sense of community. Calling a friend to hear about their graduation isn’t necessary anymore. Instead, we swipe through a carousel of photos and comment “Congrats!” before quickly moving on. “Catching up” has become small talk. We already know what is happening in the lives of others.
“It’s the same thing as getting together with people when you used to go over to someone’s house with a casserole,” says Dr.Granek, a health psychologist. “But now…that’s become an online space instead of a physical space. ”
So I prompt you to ask yourself, at what point did connection start feeling so lonely?
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