Americans in the 21st century devote more technology to staying connected than any society in history， yet somehow the devices fail' us: Studies show that we feel increasingly alone. Our lives are spent in a tub-of-war between conflicting desires--we want to stay connected， and we want to be free. We lurch back and forth， reaching for both. How much of one should we give up in order to have more of the other? How do we know when we've got it right?