Thirteen years have passed since the first publication of The I Factor ™, and yet its emphasis on the importance of emotional intimacy and deeper connection in our personal relationships has never been more relevant. Facebook and Twitter may have been superseded by Instagram and TikTok, but social media is still a disruptive force that supports and encourages our worst narcissistic and voyeuristic tendencies. True, human nature hasn't really changed over the last few hundred years – the blacksmith’s pretty daughter has always married the rich baker's son – but such instincts are now playing out on a global canvas. Back then, a typical person might have known and been exposed to at most a few hundred people in their lifetime. Today they live in a world in which they might know and be exposed to tens of thousands. At the same time, marketeers have for years been using images of wealth, success, youth and beauty to sell us on all the things that are supposed to make us happy… if only we were more successful and more beautiful. With social media, we are now the ones selling a more successful and impossibly beautiful version of ourselves, with a curated selection of AI-filtered photos that we inflict on our followers… while they inflict the same on us. Meanwhile, dating apps feed into our social ADHD, as we swipe through an endless stream of prospects, quickly moving from one match to the next without going any deeper than an initial exchange of one or two messages. Finally, social media is splitting society down the fault lines of political, religious, and cultural divisions, as PhD-devised algorithms feed us items that reinforce rather than challenge what we already believe. Sadly, all of this is wreaking havoc on our personal relationships by rewiring our brains, destroying our self-esteem, and creating unrealistic expectations for our partners and our lives. That said, this book is a sequel to The I Factor . In addition to new and provocative insights on intimacy and connection that the author has learned in the years since the first book’s publication, it features a series of original columns on dating. Sections include: Loose Ends . Various thoughts about often overlooked barriers to establishing a deeply intimate relationship. - What I’ve Learned . The painful lesson of how it can be a slippery slope from intimacy into codependency. - Consensual Non-Monogamy . Thoughts about a more open alternative to a traditional committed relationship. - After It’s Over . A single meditation on the idea that a relationship that ends can sometimes be reborn. Or not. - Hurt Feelings . A free-verse poem on the challenge of hearing your partner’s feelings without defensiveness. - Life Lessons . Four personal essays about intimacy, emotional resilience, and confronting your issues. - Dating Manifesto . A series of columns on the challenges of mating and dating in a wired world. The I Factor: What I've Learned is an essential complement to The I Factor .