What is lost in a person when the collective context in which they grew up begins to break down?
If that context was a significant part of one’s worldview, the impact is felt on many levels. The people I identified with and trusted become strangers. This means I must seek out new communities — groups against whom I can calibrate myself, people with whom I can share a path.
If external factors held great importance, one must reassemble oneself—rebuild the very foundation of one’s being. Sometimes, this requires a pause to take a closer look: Who am I? Am I the person I wanted to be? What do I want, and what matters to me? Only then does it become clear what the new people — those who will walk the next part of the journey with us — will be all about.
Your patients use their phones. What are they looking for there that they can’t find anywhere else?
Life doesn’t always offer us instant relief. But a phone does — every single time. Even if only for a second, we forget the unresolved issues — the things demanding our attention and time to be transformed.
The phone provides a sense of being "safe at home," a feeling of security. But — alas — it is a danger, albeit a slow one: while we hide inside the phone, our life goes on, yet we aren't participating in it. It also rewires our motivational system, making it increasingly difficult to re-engage with reality.