When you hear the words of Venerable Fulton Sheen and other holy men and women from the past, there’s a common reaction: surprise at how accurately they describe our present-day problems.
The truth is that human nature doesn’t change. Sin doesn’t change. Temptation doesn’t change. No matter how much technology changes, we humans are the same. We keep needing the same advice and warnings ... and invitations to hope.
So when we listen to the saints and holy people of the past, their words seem to speak directly to us today.
A wise voice from the fairly recent past is Venerable Fulton Sheen, the archbishop and theologian who reached millions with his influential radio and Emmy-winning television show Life is Worth Living.
His wisdom is still so relevant today. In fact, one of his quotations seems to describe our current 24-hour news cycle with uncanny foresight!
Social media didn’t even exist back when he said these words, but it sounds as if he is describing it — especially the worrying effect it has on our ability to see things with right judgment.
What happens when we’re exposed to a relentless stream of highly emotional content? Some content brings bad news, and some brings good news, but all of it is designed to play on our emotions.
And the effects are pretty scary.
“Pulled and pulled like the spring on a screen door”
Here’s the video of what Venerable Fulton Sheen said, as shared on our Instagram page:
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And the full quotation here:
Why can't you see that after a while, our emotions are like the spring on a screen door, pulled and pulled so often? And after a while, it loses all of its resiliency.
And then later on in life, there come real objects and problems toward which the emotions of love and hate and anger and justice and so forth, should be aroused, but they become so exhausted, so emasculated, by being pulled at artificially, that they're no longer aroused.
And that is why, in the face of social injustices, dishonesties, affecting one industry after another, and politics, we remain cold.
Globalization of indifference
When our emotions are constantly whipped back and forth, we actually lose our instinct to react the way we should to serious problems. We become numb.
Decades after Sheen said these words, plenty of research confirms what he said. Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke, MD, author of Dopamine Nation, explains how social media and compulsive overconsumption can affect our brain chemistry:
Feel-good substances and behaviors increase dopamine release in the brain's reward pathways.
The brain responds to this increase by decreasing dopamine transmission — not just back down to its natural baseline rate, but below that baseline.
Repeated exposure to the same or similar stimuli ultimately creates a chronic dopamine-deficit state, wherein we're less able to experience pleasure.
We see the truth of what Sheen observed. A constant stream of emotional stimuli makes us less able to respond appropriately to things that matter.
We can't be indifferent
Pope Francis gave a similar warning, calling for an end to the “culture of indifference." He urged the faithful to follow God’s example of love, “without ever turning away” from people’s needs, especially those of the poor.
What’s the solution to chronic overconsumption? We can’t let these things take over our lives. Breaks from consuming news and social media are so important. We can't let ourselves stop caring about other people. And we need to be in contact with actual people. As much as technology helps us to stay in touch, we can't overestimate the importance of physical togetherness.
Instead, prayer, time with our families, reading, social events with friends, hobbies, and many more valuable things can and should fill our lives.
And when real problems arise — social injustices and sorrows — we won't be indifferent. We will be ready to respond appropriately, caring for others' needs and using our voices to call for justice and truth.
