BETWEEN CONNECTIONS AND DISTANCES: A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION ON SOCIAL BONDS IN THE AGE OF HYPERCONNECTIVITY

Abstract

Contemporaneity witnesses profound transformations in forms of human interaction, characterized by digital hyperconnectivity that simultaneously promises approximation and produces experiences of affective distancing. This study justifies itself by the need to philosophically understand the implications of these technological mediations on the constitution of social bonds, a fundamental dimension of human existence. The objective consists in analyzing the tensions between connection and distancing that characterize interpersonal relationships in the digital era, investigating their ontological and existential specificities. The methodology adopts a qualitative approach of theoretical-reflexive nature, grounded in integrative review of philosophical, sociological, and collective health literature, with hermeneutic analysis of sources published between 2020 and 2024. The results evidence three fundamental dimensions: reconfiguration of experiences of presence and absence in digitally mediated relationships; emergence of new forms of surveillance and relational control; and tension between quantitative expansion of connections and qualitative impoverishment of affective bonds. It concludes that hyperconnectivity constitutes an ambivalent phenomenon that demands critical reflection on the modes of incorporation of technologies in relational practices, avoiding reductionisms that obscure the contradictions experienced by contemporary subjects in their experiences of sociability.