The companies curing your loneliness:We’re in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. We’re moving across the country, delaying marriage and kids, and working all the time. Now, companies are selling us “on-demand connection” because loneliness has become a big business and a powerful marketing opportunity. Does any of it work — or is it just an expensive VC-funded Band-Aid on a much larger societal problem? “Hypervigilant to social threats, the lonely brain detects them everywhere, wreaking havoc on the body by putting the nervous system on constant alert and spurring further isolation.”