For subscribers

I’m a psychoanalyst. This is what technology is doing to us

We’ve lost the capacity to feel the grief technology brings.

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox

One constant I’ve found is how technology brings a kind of alexithymic fog

One constant about technology is that it brings a kind of alexithymic fog, says the writer, referring to the condition where one has difficulty identifying or being able to express one’s emotions.

PHOTO: ST FILE

Steven Barrie-Anthony

Follow topic:

For the vast majority of my psychotherapy patients, the gravitational pull of phones and social media alters the most important aspects of who they are, their relationships with others and how they move through the world.

This is true for most of us. Our uptake of technology has been so rapid that we are losing the ability to notice how it feels to live this way. Occasionally, in therapeutic conversations, a patient can get in touch with these feelings. It often looks like grief.

See more on