"I don't think people are lonely because they're alone, I think people are lonely because nothing feels real. We've turned so much of life into a representation of life. Friendships become followers, conversations become comments, experiences become content. Even our thoughts start getting shaped by an invisible audience. None of this happened because we wanted something bad. We wanted connection, we wanted to share, we wanted to belong. But somewhere along the way we started to experience life through screens instead of ourselves. A sunset isn't enough anymore, we have to capture it. A meal isn't enough, we have to post about it. A moment isn't enough, we have to prove it happened. And when everything becomes content, reality starts to feel distant. That's why I think so many people feel disconnected. It's not from each other, it's from themselves. Because a part of us that feels alive doesn't care about lakes, or views, or algorithms. It cares about present."