The lack of engagement from the no longer tangible participant, I noted, was vast and spreading. Sex and novels and music and movies were the things that made life bearable—not friends, not family, not school, not social scenes, not interactions—and that was the summer when I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark every other week but barely had dinner with my separated parents even twice. I had no stakes in the real world—why would I? It wasn’t built for me or my needs or desires.
