Numbing the Bad Numbs the Good Too

Alcohol, endless scrolling, overeating, overworking — all of them are effective at dulling pain. The problem is that you can't selectively numb emotions. When you close the door on the bad feelings, you close it on the good ones too. Joy, connection, excitement, wonder — all of it gets muted in the same process. The price of not feeling the lows is not fully feeling the highs. At some point, people look up and realize they haven't felt much of anything in a long time.