A closer look
Before smartphones, the Romans built an early social network — via public baths and communal latrines. Messages scratched into tiles, trade deals shouted in steam rooms, and politics whispered during shared soak times mimicked what we now call ‘feeds’. These spaces fueled gossip economies that shaped careers and marriages. When the empire declined, the loss of these hubs fractured social cohesion just as abruptly as losing the internet might today. History repeats not through replicas, but rhythms: every civilization builds a tool to connect and then watches overstimulation erode its focus. The baths steamed; our screens glow. Same addiction, new water.
