Liebe und Bindung

Social media, apps and the like facilitate our contacts. Do they promote our relationships? Or do digital media jeopardize real-life relationships?

From birth to old age, bonding with other people is a fundamental element of our lives. The ability to bond shapes our partnerships, but also our health and work. How does attachment develop? And what role does love play in this?

Feeling the baby on your skin immediately after birth - for many, it is the greatest feeling of happiness in their lives. But behind this feeling of happiness is the cuddle hormone oxytocin. It is released particularly during skin contact and rewards us humans for interpersonal touch. But this hormone is also produced during social interactions and turns us into social beings. “If a baby anchors this secure, inner feeling, this basic trust, internally during the first year of life, then it can conquer the world from there,” explains renowned attachment researcher Dr. Karl-Heinz Brisch.

The documentary explores the development of this hormone and examines how bonds shape us throughout our lives. We immerse ourselves in an innovative postnatal ward in Herisau, Switzerland, explore the “generation unable to relate” and search for the psychological and medical opportunities and dangers of physicality in a cuddle therapy session.

What about our ability to bond in 2025? What role will love and attachment play in an increasingly digital world? The film explores how our way of bonding has been significantly shaped and influenced in recent years. The cell phone helps us to organize appointments, banish boredom, make new contacts and maintain old ones. But does it become a problem when we can no longer put it down? The science documentary follows researchers exclusively to find out what effect smartphones can have on the interaction of adults, but also on the behavior of new parents. Are bonding disorders of unknown proportions developing here thanks to apps and the like?

Autorin: Lara Olbeter, Liv Thamsen
Kamera: Lür Wangenheim, Björn Lindenblatt, Pascal Garbrecht
Ton: Tina Dobbertin
Schnitt: Jana Steinig
Grafik: Joscha Humann
Farbkorrektur: Jutta Boukamp
Sprecher:in: Susanne Grawe
Produktion: Christian Grauer-Mettin, Tina Maibach-Lee, Wencke Santen
Produktion ZDF: Rainer Leske
Redaktion ZDF: Ellen Haas, Bianca Charamsa