The Rise of Emotional Divestment
These days, we digest sadness alone with our phones. This is so thoroughly the case that sometimes even speaking out loud to your spouse or your mother or your close friend about a recent disaster or tragedy can feel like doubling down. They probably already know about it, so why endure the awkwardness and despair of feeling it together? And if the... See more
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
Considering these factors, it’s not hard to see why most people aren’t enthusiastic about going to a communal space to watch slow, sad stories about human pain and suffering. These days, we digest sadness alone with our phones. This is so thoroughly the case that sometimes even speaking out loud to your spouse or your mother or your close friend ab... See more
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
or you get upset that they dont want to talk about it even though you also dont want to talk about it but you want people to think that you are the type of people who do indeed talk about it
This state of affairs goes beyond compassion fatigue. Our around-the-clock overexposure to global human suffering, our daily feed of what we once considered catastrophic events — political, ecological, cultural — when combined with diminished attention spans, smaller and smaller chunks of content, and baked-in cross-platform imperatives to remain e
... See moreHeather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
Our around-the-clock overexposure to global human suffering, our daily feed of what we once considered catastrophic events — political, ecological, cultural — when combined with diminished attention spans, smaller and smaller chunks of content, and baked-in cross-platform imperatives to remain emotionally removed from any given person, place, or ev... See more
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
These phenomena aren’t matters of indifference or bad taste. This is what arises from our increasingly unnatural experience of community, of culture, of public life, of identity, of bodies in space.
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
Nevertheless, we need to keep showing our vulnerable hearts to each other. The stakes are enormous. We need more chances to connect and bond with each other in public. We need reminders that total control and complete divestment from others isn’t possible and it certainly isn’t desirable. We need to learn how to forgive each other and reassure each
... See moreHeather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
Nevertheless, we need to keep showing our vulnerable hearts to each other. The stakes are enormous. We need more chances to connect and bond with each other in public. We need reminders that total control and complete divestment from others isn’t possible and it certainly isn’t desirable. We need to learn how to forgive each other and reassure each... See more
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
Under these conditions, in which strategy is constantly privileged over passionate feelings and deeply felt principles are constantly misread as strategy, emotional divestment from public life becomes not just tempting but unavoidable.
Heather Havrilesky • The Rise of Emotional Divestment
widespread, insidious shifts in how we experience each other face to face, not just in our most intimate relationships but also in our communities and public spaces