The newly-released Program For Priestly Formation, Sixth Edition makes a close connection between the ability to live a chaste, celibate way of life and the ability to transform solitude from a context for isolation and loneliness into an opportunity for intimate communion with our Lord.
I believe this is a major challenge for our age (and all ages, I presume), especially with the advent of the smart phone, which gives us the ability to completely avoid the experience of quiet and solitude. I'm speaking from experience, here. How about taking a walk to work without earbuds? Or working in the garden? Or doing the dishes? Why do we need talk radio in the car, even if it is Catholic?
Some of this was already a challenge with the advent of the radio and recorded music. People almost immediately started listening to the radio while eating supper, which changes the focus. Of course, supper is not solitude, but having the radio on is still the intrusion of technological distraction on an opportunity for personal communion.
And, of course, now we need the dopamine fix that comes from looking at our screens. Not surprising that those who can't live without that dopamine fix also can't live without sexual gratification.
