Why do I feel so drained and disconnected even when I’m technically around people? In this video, a scene from the new game Pragmata unlocks a powerful conversation about why real, two-way human connection isn’t optional, and what you can practically do to build it.

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I’ve been putting some serious time into the brand new game Pragmata, and it’s been a lot of fun. But as I’ve worked my way through it, something kept stopping me in my tracks. At one point, the main character Hugh and the android girl Diana wander into an area on the moon base that looks like a normal Earth kitchen table. Right there, Hugh talks about what kept him going as an orphan. It wasn’t just the food on the table. It was the conversations. The people around him. The back and forth.

Diana found it fascinating, and later back at the main station, she brings it up again. Hugh digs deeper into why those conversations mattered so much and why having people in your life to talk with is genuinely life-giving.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

When We Isolate, Things Break Down

Not everyone experiences isolation the same way, but when we cut ourselves off from other people, something inside us starts to deteriorate. The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it plainly:

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no other to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Some people can handle things on their own for a while. But that same passage reminds us that the more people you have with you, the better equipped you are. You may be okay for a season, but you will arrive at a point where you need people in your life. It is not a question of if. It is a question of when.

And here is where it gets painful. Some people reach that point and look around to find they have pushed everyone away. They have been putting up walls for so long that when they finally need somebody, there is no one left close enough to help.

The Call to Be Intentional

So what do we do about it? The writer of Hebrews gives us a clear direction:

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

That word “spur” is not passive. We need to be intentional about stirring each other up, and a lot of that begins with something simple: having real conversations with people.

A mentor of mine said something recently that I have not been able to shake. He told me that if a conversation is always one way, you do not really have a relationship. Real connection requires someone willing to speak and someone genuinely willing to listen. Not to respond. To hear the heart of the person in front of them.

Many people who find themselves isolated tend to fall into one of two camps. The first is someone who talks so much that no one else ever gets room to share. The second is someone who has always been in the background and feels like their thoughts simply do not matter. The solution for both is the same: intentional, two-way conversation.

If you do not understand what someone is passionate about, say so. Ask them to explain it. That is not a barrier to connection. It might actually be the key.

For Those Who Have Been Burned

To those carrying hurt from specific people who caused you to pull away in the first place, I want to encourage you to forgive those individuals. I know that is hard. Depending on what happened, it may be one of the most difficult things you have ever done.

But here is what unresolved bitterness does. It poisons how you see everyone else. You begin to see the whole world through the lens of the person who hurt you, and you start treating people who had nothing to do with it as if they are the enemy. You isolate yourself even further.

Forgiveness does not mean what they did was okay. What it does is release them from your heart so you can stop carrying their weight and focus on the good things God has ahead of you. This is how we begin to stir up love and good works in each other. It starts with grace.

You need people. Hugh knew it on a moon base in Pragmata. The writer of Ecclesiastes knew it thousands of years ago. The question is not whether you need community. It is whether you are going to take the first step toward building it.