ARTWORK: Jessica McLeod-Yu
the reality of digital disconnection JESSICA LIU
I think I’m lonely.
I said this realisation out loud one afternoon on video call with a friend in Sydney. It was a very strange thing to come to terms with and as such, was something I’d only just realised I’d been pushing back against for quite some time now. This statement of mine was spectacularly constructed given that I was—ironically—in the presence of company when I said it. I was entirely midconversation with a close friend I’d known for six or seven years. This does, however, shed some light on the nature of loneliness, that one doesn’t actually have to be alone in order to feel lonely. This fact had eluded me for so long and was one of the reasons I’d rejected attaching such a sentiment to
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