Do we know what “connect” means?

“Nearly half of Americans report feeling lonely, yet there are more ways than ever to connect.”

I’ve heard this statement repeatedly in media reports on America’s loneliness epidemic. The word “connect” is dangerously misused here. Mass media is irresponsibly equating access to vast information online with human connection.

Connection is knowing and understanding another. Exposure to digital content from gazillions of people does not necessarily bring more knowing, more understanding.

So, why the misuse of language? We’ve collectively internalized marketing terminology from social media companies, and we use it as truth. Facebook taught us why we should use social media. An early mission statement read: “Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you.” The company advertised connection.

The marketing teams used a fundamental human need to lure more users, more advertisers, more dollars. Along the way, we took their claims seriously. We bought into Facebook and other online platforms as a means to connection. The advertising worked: We crave knowing and understanding. Flashy new technologies told us they offered it. We signed up.

The danger lies in our continued delusion that we can — and must! — connect with others online. Connection in digital spaces is the rare exception, not the rule.

We can use information we find online to build real-world connection. But access to vast information alone, on social media platforms and beyond, does not mean we will. And, the “more ways than ever to connect” certainly do not mitigate loneliness.

This is a call to reclaim the correct use of CONNECTION, to drop the marketing terminology we’ve taken as fact from social media companies, to stop invalidating people who feel lonely.