The pandemic accelerated want, leading people to seek comfort. Entire generations learned unnatural new ways to find stimulation and cope. “The pandemic was an enormous stressor on society,” Szalavitz told me. “I think people who were at the edge often went over it. I think this stress is why we’re seeing many people starting to do all kinds of dysfunctional things. Like, people are going to need to do something.” But the pandemic was just a powerful push toward a strange new kind of living. A type of living that compels us to seek stimulation from, yeah, something.
