I don't know that it's family alone, technology is helping. You can live vicariously through your palm today by holding on to a phone. We see it when people are out and about and peering deeply into their phone as if it's the end of the world. Most people spend more time looking into their phone than talking to others. In some ways it connects us to those far away but disconnects us from those closest to us. In Japan, the hikikomori sometimes have family and yet are lonely, and lock themselves up in their room and just live through black mirrors.