This formal research project focuses on how structural forces—car-centric urban planning, the erosion of third spaces, overprotective parenting, and pervasive technology—have unintentionally fueled a modern epidemic of social disconnection. It draws from sociology, clinical and forensic psychology, and urban planning to build an integrative framework that treats isolation not as a personal failing, but as a systemic outcome. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project maps how these forces interact and compound, offering a foundation for theory development, future research, and applied social repair.

This is the literary essay collection version of the work. Written in a conversational tone, it blends memoir, social commentary, and psychological insight to trace how modern life has quietly dismantled the structures that once held us together. It’s part story, part diagnosis, unfolding like a long talk with a smart, uncomfortably honest friend.

As part of my ethos, once I believe a diagnosis is clear, it is a responsibility to begin designing a solution, even if it is incomplete. When the fire of isolation spreads, awareness alone is not enough. We need tools that push back. Catalyst, Compass, and Hearthwatch are digital frameworks built from the systems my research identified to do just that: to rebuild trust, restore autonomy, and reactivate the motivational drives our systems have dulled. These tools are not distractions from the fire. They are ways to walk back into the world with water in your hands.

Understanding a system means seeing how every part moves together. This in-progress interactive module lets users explore the full web of feedback loops driving the isolation epidemic—across parenting, technology, emotional development, political tension, and more. Every term is clickable, every connection traceable, letting users follow the path from cause to effect and back again.

When research reveals something that affects others, I believe there is a responsibility not just to understand an issue, but to communicate it to those affected. This in-progress video essay series is my attempt to do just that: translate complex findings into a format that is visual, accessible, and emotionally legible. The written word can diagnose a problem, but video can show it, and for a generation shaped by screens, sometimes that’s what it takes to make the fire visible.