I grew up alongside the boom of digital technologies, logging over 10,000 hours online in just a few teen years, often spending six hours daily on my phone, computer, video games, and social media.

It wasn’t until college that I became aware of not only my addiction but my peers’. In lecture halls, dorms, walking between classes, at parties, or just hanging out with friends, there wasn’t a moment free from scrolling, checking, recording, and posting.

I didn’t see this crisis of connection on my social media feed. But behind the screens, my peers were lonely. I was lonely.

I remember recording a Snapchat video at a concert, looking around at a sea of phone screens, and thinking, “Is anyone present right now?”

So I started to disconnect to maintain my sanity and eventually deleted my social media permanently. At the same time I was growing dissatisfied with my smartphone, I was rediscovering life through a new perspective: photography.

Since 2016, I’ve been documenting people using technology because I started to see the problem spreading beyond my university, from national parks to cities.

In 2023, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, confirming what I was seeing through my camera: 1 in 2 adults and young adults in America are lonely.

My portfolio, one hundred photographs spanning twelve states in America (Alaska, California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming), Washington D.C., and four countries (Italy, Portugal, the United States, Vietnam), raises awareness of an emerging and worsening global public health crisis: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.