We need to rediscover the power of human touch. Here's why

We experience touch in our daily lives, and are witness to the power of it during poignant moments. We saw this when the principal of Stoneman Douglas High School promised a hug to every student after a school shooting in 2018, when former President Obama embraced the families of the kids at Sandy Hook in 2012, and when Princess Diana broke royal protocol to hug an HIV-positive child in 1991. Time and time again, we see touch wielding incredible power. It remains integral to our communication, even in an age of integrated technology – and it imparts emotion when verbal communication isn't enough. During the 1960s, thousands of Romanian children were thrown into orphanages where they grew up starved of human contact.