You can go viral and still feel invisible. Attention isn’t the same as connection.

Being looked at by thousands and being known by one person are different experiences that share a word. Attention arrives in volume, lasts a day and asks nothing of anybody. Connection is slow, specific and involves somebody noticing when you are off. You can have an enormous amount of the first and none of the second, and that gap is lonely.

Put some work into the second kind this week. One real conversation, one person you check on, one thing you do with somebody rather than post about. If numbers have been setting your mood, leave them alone for a few days and see who is still there.