From our first primitive grunts and symbols carved into stone,

human beings have continually sought out ways to connect, ways to better understand each other.

These early efforts to communicate eventually evolved into full-blown complex languages.

Fast forward a few hundred thousand years and were distributing these languages via a printing press.

Then came the telegraph, telephone, and the phonograph, radio and TV and the personal computer.

With each innovation, the world became a little bit smaller.

We all got a little bit closer, a little more connected. And then, in the late 20th century this Like every watershed moment in human history, there is a world before the internet and a world after.

Coupled with rapidly evolving computer technology, the internet completely transformed

the way we connect. Suddenly hundreds of thousands of years of

technological advancement consolidated into the palm of our hand. We can

face time with relatives, make friends around the globe on social media, browse a library of human history on a search engine,

and swipe through a gallery of potential sexual partners on an app.

We are now all closer than ever,

connected with everyone, everywhere, all the time. The question now is, is this

a good thing? Numerous studies have shown us that social media contributes to higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

Smartphones, it turns out, are more like slot machines,

conduits for floods of the same neurochemicals produced by addictive drugs.

Online comment boards are cesspools of contentious debate.

Political polarization is at an all-time statistical high and studies show that despite

being connected everywhere all the time many of us still feel lonely and

isolated we've all become each other's bad roommates, stuck together, entangled in the

World Wide Web. Perhaps history will prove the truth about the digital

...