I consider the Parent Hacks blog and the 10+-year community, conversation and book that came out of it to be my proudest achievement as a writer. The friendships that began here sustain me to this day.

But as my kids grew and my focus shifted, my day-to-day life evolved beyond that space. So did the conversational and info-gathering tools available to new parents. That’s not a bad or sad thing — it’s a reflection of Parent Hacks’s natural lifespan. I feel about that arc as I feel about my own kids’ growth. Kids are meant to outgrow their childhoods. That’s a joyful thing.

What I didn’t notice during this natural evolution was a creeping emptiness. I’m not talking about mourning the loss of parenting little kids (I am so much happier as the parent of teens). I’m talking about how, as I unconsciously shifted my online time to social media platforms, I began to feel more and more lonely.