The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth

by Sam Quinones

Drugs and other addictive products turn us away from that. Heroin addicts retreat into themselves. The addict alone in his hoodie seems an emblem of the Opioid Era. Gambling, first undertaken as a social activity, turns quickly into something one does alone. Same with alcohol. Social media, meanwhile, more resembles prehistoric communication. On social media, we are unable to perceive the differences in tone and meaning that we have learned as a species through eons of face-to-face interaction. We see no facial expressions on Facebook. Nuance is hard to tweet. We mistake a playful phrase for menace or insult. A medium designed for connectivity instead inflames our righteous anger and indignation. Likewise, an addict, with natural communal impulses muted, devolves into an antisocial state. Her sole focus is on self-gratification, obeying her me-first impulse, isolated and alone, even as she lives amid millions of others. Any relationship serves her only inasmuch as it can help her score. In her addicted brain, Me has won the battle over Us.