In the following questions, a sentence is given with four highlighted words in it. It is then followed by four alternatives that may/may not represent the correct meaning of these highlighted words. Choose the option that represents the CORRECT meaning of the highlighted word and mark it as your answer. If none of the options is correct, choose option E (None of these) as your answer. The lead sociologist stated that modern digital habits could foster superficial social connections while gradually eroding deep, meaningful human relationships over extended periods.