His Friends

When I first started using Facebook, I was amazed that I could be friends with anyone. I made over a thousand friends, spent hours reading their profiles, and felt like I was more socially connected than ever before. It took me longer than most, but I eventually realized the time I spent on Facebook was disconnecting me from my actual friends. It was hard to admit that a social network made me lonelier. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General found that about half of all Americans sometimes feel lonely. We're increasingly living alone, spending more time alone, and it doesn't feel good. Vivek Murthy's report found that "The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day."