How Tech Profited From

The Loneliness of ‘Liquid Love’

Community over consumption, connection not isolation, civil dialogue instead of identity politics – all must be prioritised if we are to tackle our profoundly alienating times, writes Iain Overton

We live in the best of digital times and the worst of digital times. In an age of algorithmic paradoxes: an era in which we are simultaneously the most connected, and yet the loneliest we have ever been.

The Prime Minister’s recent assessment that the UK is an “island of strangers” was not mere rhetoric, even if that is how he intended it – loneliness is a defining feature of our time, rooted in structures and systems that extend far beyond temporary pandemic measures or remote working practices.

At the heart of the issue lurks the very technology that promises us the joy of connection: artificial intelligence and the commercial forces that mould our digital interactions.