I don’t know if this even counts as a confession, I mean, it’s not exactly a secret, but I just feel… so alone, even when I’m not. I live in a dorm, a pretty crowded one, and I have roommates, technically. We share a common room, the kitchen, the bathroom, everything. And every single day, every day, I hear them in there, laughing, sometimes shouting, always with their phones in their hands. It’s like a constant soundtrack of… I don’t know, memes. That’s what it is. Memes. I think maybe I’m just old-fashioned, or maybe I’m just bad at this – at fitting in, I mean. I’m 24. I’m supposed to be, like, thriving, building my network, making real connections. I moved here for an internship, for something that felt like it could actually *matter*, artistically. It’s not paying much, obviously, which is why I’m still in a dorm with people who are, like, four years younger than me. And I thought, okay, new city, new people, this could be good. I could finally find my people. But it’s like they don’t even see me. I try, I really do. I’ll walk into the common room and say, "Hey, how was your day?" And they’ll just look up for a second, maybe grunt, and then go right back to whatever is on their screens. Sometimes one of them will just show me their phone, like, a meme about a cat, and then go back to their own conversation in the group chat. The group chat *we’re all in*. It’s like they can only talk to each other through the glow of their screens, even when they’re sitting five feet apart. It makes me so angry, sometimes. Not at them, not really. More at myself, I guess. For thinking it would be different. For putting myself in this situation where I feel like a ghost in my own living space. I try to engage, I really do. "What’s funny?" I’ll ask. And one of them will just go, "Oh, it’s just a thing." And then they’ll all laugh, like it’s a secret language I’m not privy to. And maybe it is. Maybe I’m just not fluent in their language of inside jokes and reaction images. It feels like I’m constantly on the outside looking in, even when I’m standing right there, physically present. Every single day, every day, it’s the same thing. And I don’t know what to do. I just don’t know.