I’ve broken through a reluctance to write in my books, scribbling happily in review copies and textbooks. But last night I felt similarly compelled to mark up a magazine article. There were just too many passages I wanted to ponder, so I pulled out a pen.

The article was “The Anti-Social Century” in the February Atlantic, which discusses how Americans are spending more time alone than ever before. Riffing on the famous “Bowling Alone” work of Robert Putnam, the article explores the effect of social media, ordering takeout and the lingering effects of the pandemic, among other causes of isolation.

Like any writing that offers aha moments, this article hits on truths I’ve experienced in my own life. For instance, when I enrolled in a graduate program I wanted only to meet in person. But many classes met online. At first I actively avoided them, but now I seek them out. I choose what’s easiest in the short-term rather than what’s better in the long-term. (Though I may complain about the traffic, I enjoy in-person classes the most.)

But it’s the way author Derek Thompson explores the topic that made me highlight sentences and paragraphs. What we’re missing, he says, is not the inner ring of companionship — we are in closer touch with family and friends than ever before, given our technological tethers — or the outer ring of social media contacts —which connect us to our tribe. What’s missing is the middle zone, the village, our neighbors and acquaintances. “Families teach us love, and tribes teach us loyalty. The village teaches us tolerance.”

Social isolation has a price, and we are paying it, as Thompson explains. According to one analysis a “five-percentage-point increase in alone time was associated with about the same decline in life satisfaction as was a 10 percent lower household income.”

With journalism like this it’s no wonder that the Atlantic has returned to 12-month-a-year print circulation after 20 years of a reduced schedule. It’s the rare print success story, and good news for “printophiles” like me. Now I have two more issues a year to mark and underline.