A few months ago, I was at the airport traveling for a speaking engagement. While waiting for my flight, I sat down at the food court and noticed a group of teenage boys in matching soccer uniforms sitting at a circular table five feet away. 20 minutes into my meal, I realized I hadn't heard a single word. All 10 of them were hunched over their devices, eerily silent and unmoving.

It wasn't just that one table, though. As I walked through the airport terminal, I encountered the same sad scene at gate after gate.

A few weeks ago I was reading the book Futureproof, by New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose, and a sentence transported me back to that surreal moment in the airport:

"Everywhere I looked, I saw a sea of bowed heads, peering into glowing screens, and it legitimately scared me."

Below, you'll find 26 standout photos from January through July of this year, from my ongoing decade-long photography project documenting our epidemic of loneliness and isolation: