While our use of technology has profoundly changed our relationships with other people, it has changed our relationship with ourselves even more, and this is the most important relationship of all.
We no longer see our self as a destination. Our self is a void to be filled, with entertainment, information, or anything else that feels good. To be alone is to be lonely, as if our own company is worth nothing. The instant our friend gets up to go to the bathroom, we’re waiting in a line, or we’re between activities, we grab our phone to check whatever we can check—anything but to be with ourselves. We relate to ourselves as the hole at the center of the donut.
