"Reach out," the old jingled implored. "Reach out and touch someone." That was the 1980s, and the metaphor of physical touch helped humanize the still-nascent technology of long-distance phone calls.

Lose yourself in a warm embrace and, just for a moment, all your worries seem miles away. Hugs — a universal gesture of caring, warmth and connection — offer an immense capacity to heal, uplift and ...

Human contact is back – modified for the pandemic, of course. And while you may not be rushing back into shaking hands or doling out high fives, there’s likely one show of affection you’ve been ...

How to navigate when you should and shouldn’t hug someone — and how not to hold on too long. By A.C. Shilton Alexis Block was worried that the robot she’d built was malfunctioning. She was testing the ...

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If you’ve scrolled through Instagram or X lately, chances are you’ve seen people sharing emotional AI-generated pictures of themselves hugging their childhood versions. This heartwarming photo trend, ...

In the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer, one of the characters Sammy explained, “What I’m saying is all I really want is someone to hold me and tell me that everything is going to be all right.” Well, ...

Something surprising happened recently to Mia Schachter, a consent educator, podcaster and intimacy coordinator who founded the school Consent Wizardry. “I met a completely new person, and I put out ...