Study finds we can’t put our phones down for anything — to go to the toilet, to take a shower, not even to have sex.

What’s the one the thing you’re afraid to tell someone? That one thing someone could use against you. Whatever it is, telling someone you trust could be the ticket to real, authentic intimacy. That’s what I was seeking out of a recent visit with my family.

I travel home once year for Christmas. It’s usually pretty awkward. My sister makes sure only politically correct topics are discussed at the dinner table. I usually go home disappointed by the lack of connection.

This year I was hoping things would be different. My partner, our daughter and I decided to make our annual trip the last week of summer for a change. I’d just made some pretty big life changes – selling my food truck and moving into a camper to travel the country for a while.

A 2007 study that didn’t get much publicity found that polyamorous people have higher testosterone levels than both single people and people in monogamous relationships.

It’s long been known monogamously married men have lower testosterone levels than (presumably more promiscuous) single men, but polyamourous men (and women!) in multiple committed relationships have the highest testosterone levels of all.

Humans have a fundamental need to connect with other humans. Our survival and well-being depend on it. But most members of modern civilization are starving for human connection for one simple reason – we’re terrified to be vulnerable.

The dictionary defines vulnerability as helplessness, powerlessness, weakness and susceptibility to attack, so it is not surprising most of us aren’t lining up to put ourselves in vulnerable positions, but, in her famous Ted Talk, social scientist Brene Brown says doing so is absolutely essential to forming intimate human relationships:

Addiction is not genetic, nor is it the result of the “irresistible” chemicals in drugs. Addiction – whether to alcohol, porn, screen time or heroin – is the result of human disconnection.

In an ever-more socially disconnected world, addictions of all kinds are on the rise. While governments wage wars on drugs and parents nag kids for being glued to iPads all day, few people understand the root of the problem.

Contrary to the popular notion that “love conquers all,” spiritual teacher Teal Swan cautions hopeless romantics that “love is not enough” to create harmonious relationships:

Spiritual teacher Teal Swan explains the secret tactic some people use to keep us trapped in toxic relationships, and how to break free

We’ve all had that friend who’s sworn a million times – “I’m really going to leave him (or her) this time” – but never does. Or maybe it’s you whose been saying you’re finally going to call it quits with your abusive, controlling partner for 15 years.

In the video below Teal Swan explains the insidious – though often unconscious – tactic our partners are using to keep us coming back for more:

My new spiritual guru Teal Swan says the era of marriage is coming to an end and polyamory is the way of the future, but we can’t just jump into the lifestyle without preparing ourselves emotionally and spiritually.

“As a species, when we evolve to a higher vibratory rate, the perception of separation will dissolve, we will not have the desire to pair bond and marriage will cease to be a function of our society,” Swan says in a YouTube video about marriage.