This narrative serves as direct refutation to the argument that our ever-expanding technology is making us exponentially increasingly disconnected and isolated. Leave it to Ingress to bring about random meet-ups, bringing together women with canes and religious men with yarmulkes, encouraging clothing-wearers to engage with nudists, and pre-teen craigslist entrepreneurs with failed slackrope walkers.

Is it a game I would want to engage in? Not really. I criticize several people I know that became addicted to the Kardashian app… Create a fake persona, and "do stuff" to gain popularity and virtual-Twitter followers? If you could only see how far my eyes roll back in my head, as I describe this. On the contrary, while capturing portals may not be how I want to spend my early morning hours (most notable because I prefer to sleep between 12 am and 4 am to get to the gym around 530-6 am), at least there is evidence that Ingress is connecting people in the flesh, around real, tangible, visible objects and locations. At least in its virtual combat, the terrain is real. Rather than an escape from reality to a contrived, imaginary realm, Ingress facilitates a renewed connection amongst its players, most notably between people that might not otherwise have been connected.