We tell ourselves that we desire deeper relationships and more meaningful work, yet the way in which we live our lives proves otherwise. Rather than making time for lunch with a friend, we have a man on a bicycle deliver a turkey melt so we can scroll through our feeds, alone and uninterrupted. Rather than dedicating deep, focused time to working on an ambitious project that could benefit the world in some small way, we spend hours thinking up content that can help us grow a following that we will inevitably feel disconnected to. We would almost certainly be happier if we poured our time and attention into cultivating a handful of close relationships and mastering a craft. So, why the collective hesitation? We hesitate because this approach to life and work comes with the cost of an audience, the cost of external validation and the cost of making strangers we will never meet jealous of a life we're not really living.