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Media & Digital Culture: The Psychology of a Wired World

Digital technology has fundamentally reshaped human connection, attention patterns, and identity formation. We analyze the psychological cost of the attention economy—from social media trauma to technology addiction—and provide the clinical tools for achieving digital wellness in an age of constant connectivity.

Psychology of digital culture and technology

Clinically Reviewed & Edited By:

Joel Blackstock, LICSW-S, MSW, PIP | Clinical Director, Taproot Therapy Collective

The Architecture of Digital Experience

Platform-Specific Psychology

How algorithmic design rewires the brain.

  • Instagram & Body Image: The visual pressure of curated identities and dysmorphia.
  • TikTok & Attention: The dopamine reward system and the erosion of sustained focus.
  • Twitter/X & Public Discourse: Outrage cycles, viral shaming, and collective anxiety.

Connection & Intimacy

Relationships in the virtual landscape.

  • Online Dating: Attachment patterns, the “paradox of choice,” and ghosting trauma.
  • Parasocial Relationships: The psychology of influencer culture and one-sided bonding.
  • Digital Family Dynamics: Managing screen time conflicts and developmental gaps in the household.

Emerging Frontiers

The future of human-computer interaction.

  • AI & Empathy: How interaction with artificial intelligence affects human social expectations.
  • Metaverse Identity: Reality dissociation and identity integration in persistent virtual worlds.
  • Digital Privacy: The psychological impact of surveillance, data mining, and virtual insecurity.

Clinical Treatment for the Digital Age

Our practice integrates cutting-edge research from the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab to address the “new” trauma of the 21st century. We utilize neuroscience-informed therapy to help clients recover from technology addiction and dopamine dysregulation.

Whether you are navigating adolescent identity formation or the existential overwhelm of information overload, we provide evidence-based interventions that treat the digital environment as a primary factor in your mental health.

Digital Culture & Mental Health: FAQ

How does social media affect depression and anxiety?

Social media often creates a “comparison trap” where curated life highlights trigger feelings of inadequacy. Algorithmic echo chambers can also exacerbate anxiety and political trauma by creating a distorted sense of shared reality.

Where can I find a therapist in Birmingham who specializes in screen addiction?

Taproot Therapy Collective in Hoover, AL, provides specialized care for technology and gaming addiction. Our clinicians help the Greater Birmingham community develop healthy digital boundaries and rebuild face-to-face social connections.

What is a ‘Digital Detox’ and is it effective?

A digital detox involves intentional periods of abstinence from technology to reset the brain’s reward systems. While helpful as a reset, we focus on “Digital Wellness”—long-term, sustainable habits that allow you to use technology without sacrificing psychological wellbeing.

Unplug and Reconnect in Hoover, Alabama

If the digital world has become a source of stress rather than connection, our team is here to help you find your baseline. If you are looking for an expert therapist in Hoover, AL, Taproot Therapy Collective is ready to support your recovery.

📍 Taproot Therapy Collective: 2025 Shady Crest Dr, Suite 203, Hoover, AL 35216

Schedule a Consultation

Using John Gardener’s Grendel to Find the Monster in Your Shadow Side

Using John Gardener’s Grendel to Find the Monster in Your Shadow Side

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Who was John Gardner? John Gardner's "Grendel" is a postmodern retelling of the Old English epic poem "Beowulf," which explores themes of existentialism, nihilism, and the nature of evil through the eyes of the titular monster. Published in 1971, the novel is a prime example of postmodern literature, characterized by its subversion of traditional narrative structures, its blurring of the lines between hero and villain, and its questioning of universal truths and values. Gardner was a prolific writer and literary...

The Digital Collective Unconscious: How Metamodernism is Rewiring Our Shared Psyche

The Digital Collective Unconscious: How Metamodernism is Rewiring Our Shared Psyche

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When the Unconscious Goes Online What happens when Jung's collective unconscious meets the internet? This question, once relegated to speculative philosophy, has become one of the most pressing concerns of our metamodern age. We are witnessing something unprecedented in human history: the externalization of our shared psychological depths into a visible, searchable, and algorithmically curated digital landscape. The rise of the digital domain has created a new virtual world that is eternal and ethereal and with...

Video Game Psychology: What Virtual Worlds Reveal About the Human Mind

Video Game Psychology: What Virtual Worlds Reveal About the Human Mind

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In the summer of 2005, a virtual plague swept through the digital kingdom of Azeroth. Players logged into World of Warcraft to find the streets of major cities carpeted with skeletons. A bug had allowed a deadly in-game disease to escape its intended boundaries, and within hours, the servers devolved into chaos. Some players fled to remote zones. Others intentionally spread the infection for entertainment. Still others tried desperately to heal the sick—inadvertently prolonging the outbreak by keeping contagious...

The Iron Consul: George B. Ward, the Psychology of Order, and the Roman Dream of Birmingham’s Mountain Prophet

The Iron Consul: George B. Ward, the Psychology of Order, and the Roman Dream of Birmingham’s Mountain Prophet

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Explore the extraordinary life of George B. Ward (1867-1940), Birmingham’s visionary mayor who built a Roman temple on Shades Mountain. This comprehensive psychological analysis examines Ward’s trauma-driven obsession with order, his City Beautiful movement, his flirtation with fascism, and the mystery of his burned papers—revealing how one man’s battle between chaos and control shaped a city’s identity.

The Wounded Healer as Entrepreneur: Trauma as Economic Driver

The Wounded Healer as Entrepreneur: Trauma as Economic Driver

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The archetype of the wounded healer, first articulated by Jung and later elaborated by scholars like Henri Nouwen, finds peculiar expression in the modern entrepreneurial landscape where personal trauma increasingly becomes the seedbed for business ventures. Across the contemporary economy, particularly in wellness, coaching, and personal development industries, we witness a massive transformation of wounds into wealth, trauma into trade. This phenomenon extends far beyond simple capitalism; it represents a...

Trauma Bonding with Capital: Stockholm Syndrome in Capitalism

Trauma Bonding with Capital: Stockholm Syndrome in Capitalism

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The relationship between individuals and economic systems under capitalism exhibits patterns disturbingly reminiscent of trauma bonding, that psychological phenomenon where victims develop emotional attachments to their abusers. This is not metaphorical flourish but rather a precise description of the psychological dynamics at play when human beings form identificatory relationships with economic structures that systematically undermine their wellbeing. The research on trauma bonding from the National Center for...

The Shadow Economy: Collective Repression and Financial Systems

The Shadow Economy: Collective Repression and Financial Systems

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The architecture of our economic systems reveals far more than the movement of capital and commodities. Beneath the rational veneer of market mechanics lies a profound psychological infrastructure, one that Jung would recognize as the manifestation of collective shadow material projected onto the seemingly objective realm of finance. Our economic structures, far from being neutral mathematical constructs, serve as vast repositories for the repressed aspects of the collective psyche, creating what we might call a...

Finding Beauty in America’s Forgotten Corners: Toby Huss on Photography, Acting, and the Art of Authentic Seeing

Finding Beauty in America’s Forgotten Corners: Toby Huss on Photography, Acting, and the Art of Authentic Seeing

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Where Art Meets Life in the American Landscape In an era where social media algorithms and political narratives seem determined to divide us, actor and visual artist Toby Huss offers a radically different perspective on American identity. Through his photography book "American Sugar Gristle" and a career spanning from cult classics like "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" to prestige television like AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire," Huss has cultivated a unique ability to find profound beauty in the most unexpected...

Werner Herzog on Psychotherapy: A Review of Into the Abyss by Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog on Psychotherapy: A Review of Into the Abyss by Werner Herzog

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A Review of Into the Abyss by Werner Herzog Trigger Warning: This essay discusses capital punishment, murder, violence, death, and contains descriptions of violent acts including attempted murder. The film and essay examine traumatic events and their psychological impact on individuals and communities. Reader discretion is advised. Werner Herzog operates on the principle that perception is reality, and to criticize the perceiver who is deeply watching based on some outmoded collective objectification is foolish...

The Architecture of Myst: When Worlds Become Real Through Design

The Architecture of Myst: When Worlds Become Real Through Design

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An in-depth psychotherapeutic exploration of the Myst series’ architectural language, examining how each Age’s design reflects psychological states from Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired organic architecture to Byzantine constructivism. Discover how the Miller brothers transformed environmental storytelling into therapeutic landscapes where internal worlds become navigable territories.

More Human Than Human: How Blade Runner Saw Our Corporate-Colonized Future

More Human Than Human: How Blade Runner Saw Our Corporate-Colonized Future

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In 1982, Ridley Scott released a film that bombed at the box office but succeeded in something far more important: it showed us the future we were already building. Blade Runner wasn't science fiction. It was documentary footage from a tomorrow that capital was constructing in real-time. While audiences puzzled over whether Deckard was a replicant, they missed the more disturbing question: in a world where corporations manufacture consciousness itself, does the distinction between human and product even matter...

Metal Gear Solid and the Metamodern: Oscillating Between Grand Narratives and Impossible Fragmentation

Metal Gear Solid and the Metamodern: Oscillating Between Grand Narratives and Impossible Fragmentation

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An in-depth analysis of how Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid series embodies metamodern philosophy through its oscillation between grand narratives and postmodern fragmentation, exploring themes of war, identity, and consciousness while paralleling Thomas Pynchon’s critique of post-WWII American empire.

The Psychology of Metal Gear Solid: War, Identity, and the Prophet in the Machine

The Psychology of Metal Gear Solid: War, Identity, and the Prophet in the Machine

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This article contains mild spoilers from the series. Metal Gear Solid stands as one of gaming's most psychologically complex franchises, not because it tries to be, but because Hideo Kojima possesses an almost preternatural ability to understand the tensions between what we claim to value and the forces that actually drive our society. The series doesn't predict the future so much as it excavates the present, finding in our contemporary anxieties the seeds of tomorrow's crises. Each game functions as a...

50 Sociology and Anthropology Theories Every Therapist Should Know a Study Guide

50 Sociology and Anthropology Theories Every Therapist Should Know a Study Guide

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The intersection of sociology, anthropology, and psychotherapy offers profound insights into human behavior, mental health, and healing. While therapists often focus on individual psychology, understanding the broader social and cultural contexts that shape our clients' experiences can dramatically enhance therapeutic effectiveness. This comprehensive guide explores fifty essential theories from sociology and anthropology, their origins, and their direct applications to clinical practice. Part I: Foundational...

The Algorithm’s Dark Psychology: 10 Disturbing Ways Your Mind is Being Hacked

The Algorithm’s Dark Psychology: 10 Disturbing Ways Your Mind is Being Hacked

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The Ghost of Bernays in the Machine In 1929, Edward Bernays orchestrated one of history's most insidious marketing campaigns. Sigmund Freud's nephew didn't just sell cigarettes to women. He weaponized their desire for liberation, transforming toxic smoke into "torches of freedom." By staging a fake feminist protest at New York's Easter Sunday Parade, where hired debutantes lit cigarettes in defiance of social taboos, Bernays proved something disturbing: with the right psychological buttons, you could make people...

How the web 3.0 algorithms use psychology to manipulate you

How the web 3.0 algorithms use psychology to manipulate you

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We like to think we're in control of our decisions. That clicking "add to cart" was our choice. That we stayed up until 3 AM scrolling because we wanted to. That we genuinely prefer that brand of detergent. But beneath the surface of our digital lives, sophisticated psychological manipulation operates at a scale and precision that would make Cold War-era mind control experiments look quaint. These aren't conspiracy theories; they're documented techniques deployed billions of times per day, refined by armies of...

Psychohistory and the Mathematics of Civilizational Fate: When Science Fiction Becomes Social Science

Psychohistory and the Mathematics of Civilizational Fate: When Science Fiction Becomes Social Science

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The Dream of Mathematical Prophecy In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, the mathematician Hari Seldon develops psychohistory—a mathematical sociology capable of predicting the future of large populations with statistical certainty. This fictional science, combining history, sociology, and mathematical statistics, represents humanity's eternal desire to pierce the veil of time and glimpse our collective destiny. But what happens when this science fiction conceit begins to manifest in our contemporary world through...

The Weaponization of Collective Trauma: Understanding Digital-Age Psychological Manipulation

The Weaponization of Collective Trauma: Understanding Digital-Age Psychological Manipulation

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How Modern Data Mining and Microtargeting Exploit Our Deepest Wounds A Clinical Perspective on the Intersection of Trauma, Technology, and Political Manipulation In the therapy room, we witness daily how trauma shapes perception, decision-making, and emotional regulation. We understand that unresolved wounds create vulnerabilities—moments where the past hijacks the present, where fear overrides logic, where the body remembers what the mind tries to forget. What we're only beginning to grasp is how these same...

The Algorithmic Dream and Human Reality: Why Psychotherapy Cannot Be Reduced to Code

The Algorithmic Dream and Human Reality: Why Psychotherapy Cannot Be Reduced to Code

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The Birth of Computational Psychiatry: Joseph Weizenbaum and ELIZA In the winter of 1966, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum sat in his office at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, watching with growing unease as his secretary engaged in what appeared to be an intimate conversation with his computer program. She had asked him to leave the room so she could have privacy with ELIZA, his simple pattern-matching program that mimicked a Rogerian psychotherapist. This moment would haunt Weizenbaum for the rest of his...

Dan Schneider versus Child Psychology: A Cultural Reckoning

Dan Schneider versus Child Psychology: A Cultural Reckoning

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The Convenient Dismissal In 2018, Nickelodeon "parted ways" with Dan Schneider, their most profitable showrunner of the 2000s and 2010s. The timing was no accident. After decades of turning a blind eye to mounting complaints about his behavior—from verbal abuse to inappropriate content to concerning relationships with child actors—the network finally acted. Not because they suddenly discovered these issues, but because the cultural tide had shifted. The #MeToo movement had exposed Harvey Weinstein, the public was...

Adam Curtis’s Documentary Films: Emotional Truth Telling Through the Language of Conspiracy Theory

Adam Curtis’s Documentary Films: Emotional Truth Telling Through the Language of Conspiracy Theory

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A Guide for Psychotherapists and Cultural Critics Why Psychotherapists Should Watch Adam Curtis For mental health professionals seeking to understand the cultural waters their clients swim in, Adam Curtis's documentaries offer an invaluable lens. His films map the unconscious narratives that shape modern anxiety, alienation, and the collapse of collective meaning-making. Curtis doesn't just document history—he performs a kind of cultural psychoanalysis, revealing the hidden emotional logic that governs how power...

John C. Lilly: When Dolphins, Drugs, and the Deep End of Consciousness Collided in the Psychedelic ’70s

John C. Lilly: When Dolphins, Drugs, and the Deep End of Consciousness Collided in the Psychedelic ’70s

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 The Mad Scientist Who Made Flipper Look Like a Documentary Picture this: It's 1965, and while most scientists are content with their lab coats and microscopes, one maverick researcher is floating in a pitch-black tank filled with body-temperature salt water, high on ketamine, trying to establish interspecies communication with dolphins. No, this isn't the plot of a B-movie (though it inspired several). This was Tuesday for Dr. John C. Lilly, the neuroscientist who took "thinking outside the box" to mean...

The Dark Reflection: Adam Curtis’s “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”

The Dark Reflection: Adam Curtis’s “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”

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What is the Point of All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky. These opening lines from Richard Brautigan's 1967 poem "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" paint a seductive picture: a world where nature and technology blend seamlessly, where humans and machines coexist in a kind of symbiotic dance. But beneath the surface of...

Generational Cycles and Parts-Based Therapy: Understanding Generational Differences as Overreactions

Generational Cycles and Parts-Based Therapy: Understanding Generational Differences as Overreactions

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The Generational Cycles of Trauma: A Parts-Based Perspective It has long been pointed out be different schools of therapy that the patterns that repeat in the individual psyche on a micro level also mirror the family system at a mezzo and the society at a macro level. Parts-based therapy, a post-jungian modality rooted in the recognition of distinct internalized aspects of the self, offers a valuable lens through which to understand these generational cycles. Parts-based therapies represent an evolution of...

Biosemiotics: Bridging Biology, Consciousness, and the Anthropology of Self

Biosemiotics: Bridging Biology, Consciousness, and the Anthropology of Self

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What is Biosemiotics? Biosemiotics is an emerging interdisciplinary field that explores how living systems create, interpret, and communicate meaning. It offers a unique lens through which to understand the intricate relationships between biology, consciousness, and the way we construct our sense of self. By bridging these domains, biosemiotics provides valuable insights into therapy, trauma, and the anthropology of self. At its core, biosemiotics posits that life is inherently semiotic - that is, all living...

Walter Ong: Orality, Literacy, and the Jesuit Worldview

Walter Ong: Orality, Literacy, and the Jesuit Worldview

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I. Who was Walter Ong Walter J. Ong (1912-2003) was an American Jesuit priest, professor of English literature, and cultural and religious historian. Ong made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of literacy studies, media ecology, and the evolution of human consciousness. His work explored the profound differences between oral and literate cultures and how the shift from orality to literacy has shaped human thought, expression, and social organization throughout history. As a Jesuit scholar, Ong's ideas...

Is Metamodern Meme Cultural Making us Speak Literally and Symbolically at the Same Time

Is Metamodern Meme Cultural Making us Speak Literally and Symbolically at the Same Time

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The Metamodern Linguistic Turn What is Metamodernism? Metamodernism is an emerging cultural paradigm and sensibility that transcends the dichotomies of modernism and postmodernism. It seeks a synthesis of the universal aspirations and grand narratives of modernism with the relativism, irony and deconstruction of postmodernism. As we progress further into the 21st century, it becomes increasingly clear that the cultural frameworks of the past are no longer adequate for making sense of our rapidly shifting world....

The Frame of Mind: How Aspect Ratio Shapes Our Cinematic Experience

The Frame of Mind: How Aspect Ratio Shapes Our Cinematic Experience

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The Psychology of Aspect Ratio How does aspect ratio tell story and influence emotion? In the realm of cinema, the frame is not just a technical necessity but a powerful psychological tool. The proportions of that frame, known as the aspect ratio, profoundly influence how we as viewers engage with, interpret, and emotionally react to the story unfolding before us. From the nearly square frames of early silent films to the widescreen marvels that dominate multiplexes today, the evolution of aspect ratio parallels...

Donna Haraway : Cyborg Feminism and Technoscience

Donna Haraway : Cyborg Feminism and Technoscience

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I. Who is Donna Haraway Donna Haraway (b. 1944) is a prominent American scholar known for her groundbreaking contributions to the fields of science and technology studies, feminist theory, and cultural studies. Haraway's interdisciplinary approach, which draws from biology, philosophy, critical theory, and the history of science, has reshaped contemporary understandings of the complex relationships between humans, animals, and machines. Her influential works, such as "A Cyborg Manifesto" (1985) and "Simians,...

Neil Postman: Media Critic and Cultural Theorist

Neil Postman: Media Critic and Cultural Theorist

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Who Was Neil Postman? Neil Postman (1931-2003) was an American media theorist, cultural critic, and educator whose work profoundly influenced our understanding of the relationship between media, technology, and culture. His incisive critiques of television, education, and the information age continue to resonate in today's digital landscape. This paper explores Postman's life, key ideas, and enduring legacy, examining the relevance of his thought to fields such as psychology, education, and media studies. II....

Friedrich Kittler: Theorist of Media and Technology

Friedrich Kittler: Theorist of Media and Technology

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Friedrich Kittler: Digital Theory I. Who was Friedrich Kittler Friedrich Kittler (1943-2011) was a German literary scholar, media theorist, and cultural historian who made significant contributions to the fields of media studies, discourse analysis, and the history of technology. Kittler's work, which draws on a wide range of disciplines including literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and information theory, offers a provocative and influential perspective on the ways in which media technologies shape human...

Lev Manovich: Pioneering Theorist of New Media

Lev Manovich: Pioneering Theorist of New Media

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Who is Lev Manovich? Lev Manovich is a pioneering theorist of new media, whose groundbreaking work has shaped the field of digital culture and media studies. Born in Moscow in 1960, Manovich's intellectual journey spans computer science, visual arts, media theory, and cultural analytics. His seminal book, "The Language of New Media" (2001), laid the foundation for understanding the unique characteristics and affordances of digital media, and their profound impact on contemporary culture and society. Biography of...

Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message

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Who was Marshall McLuhan? Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian philosopher, professor, and public intellectual, stands as one of the most influential figures in media theory and cultural studies of the 20th century. His work, characterized by its prescient insights into the nature of media and its effects on human consciousness and society, continues to resonate in our increasingly digital and interconnected world. This paper seeks to explore McLuhan's life, ideas, and enduring legacy, situating his thought within the...

Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver: Architects of Information Theory

Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver: Architects of Information Theory

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I. What is the Shannon Weaver Model Claude Shannon (1916-2001) and Warren Weaver (1894-1978) were two American mathematicians and engineers whose collaborative work laid the foundation for modern information theory. Their groundbreaking research in the mid-20th century revolutionized our understanding of communication, paving the way for the digital age and profoundly influencing fields ranging from computer science and cryptography to linguistics and psychology. This paper explores the lives and ideas of Claude...

Vilém Flusser: Philosopher of Communication and Media Theory

Vilém Flusser: Philosopher of Communication and Media Theory

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Vilém Flusser: Philosopher of Simulacra I. Who was Vilém Flusser Vilém Flusser (1920-1991) was a Czech-born philosopher, writer, and media theorist who made significant contributions to the understanding of communication, media, and technology in the late 20th century. Flusser's work, which spans across multiple languages and disciplines, offers a unique perspective on the ways in which media shape human consciousness and culture. His ideas about the impact of photography, digital media, and technical images on...

The Revolutionary Life and Ideas of Guy Debord: Exploring the Situationist Critique of Modern Society

The Revolutionary Life and Ideas of Guy Debord: Exploring the Situationist Critique of Modern Society

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Guy Debord: Exploring the Situationist Critique of Modern Society I. Who was Guy Debord Guy Debord (1931-1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founding member of the Situationist International, a radical avant-garde movement that sought to transform everyday life through the fusion of art and politics. Debord's groundbreaking book "The Society of the Spectacle" (1967) presented a scathing critique of modern capitalist society, arguing that authentic social life had been replaced with...

The Situationist International: Subversive Tricksters of Everyday Life

The Situationist International: Subversive Tricksters of Everyday Life

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What were the Situationists International The Situationist International (SI) was a radical avant-garde movement that emerged in the 1950s and reached its peak of influence in the late 1960s, around the time of the May 1968 uprising in France. Founded on the idea of fusing art, politics, and everyday life into a revolutionary praxis, the SI sought to overthrow the alienating and oppressive structures of modern capitalist society. At the heart of their critique was the concept of the spectacle, developed by Guy...

The Psychology of Advertising

The Psychology of Advertising

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Advertising has long drawn upon psychology to influence consumers and shape their behavior. As documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis explores, some of the earliest uses of psychological theories in advertising and public relations can be traced back to Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays in the early 20th century. Bernays and the Application of Freudian Ideas Bernays was one of the first to apply Freudian ideas of the unconscious mind to advertising and public manipulation. In one famous case study, he helped the...

The “Lost World” of Miyazaki’s Masterpiece

The “Lost World” of Miyazaki’s Masterpiece

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*This review contains spoilers for the film The Boy and the Heron What is The Boy and the Heron trying to tell us? To escape from this depressing situation, they often find themselves wishing they could live in a world of their own - a world they can say is truly theirs, a world unknown even to their parents. To young people, anime is something they incorporate into this private world. I often refer to this feeling as one yearning for a lost world. It's a sense that although you may currently be living in a world...

Parametricism: The New Digital Paradigm in Architecture

Parametricism: The New Digital Paradigm in Architecture

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The Psychology of Parametricism What is Parametricism? Parametricism, a design paradigm that emerged in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, represents a significant shift in architectural thinking and practice. This approach, which relies heavily on algorithmic design processes and computational power, has reshaped how architects conceptualize, design, and construct buildings. Cultural, Technological, and Political Context The rise of parametricism can be attributed to several key factors: Technological...

What HBO’s Chernobyl Can Teach us About How We Think

What HBO’s Chernobyl Can Teach us About How We Think

Denial and Avoidance as the Root of all Evil Denial and Avoidance as the Root of All Evil: Lessons from Chernobyl for Personal and Societal Growth Introduction: The Echoes of Chernobyl In the haunting HBO miniseries "Chernobyl," a scene unfolds that serves as a powerful metaphor for the human tendency towards denial. A character repeatedly insists that RBMK reactors cannot explode, even as the smoldering ruins of the reactor lie before him. This moment encapsulates a truth that extends far beyond the confines of...

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