Commentary: Technology reshapes modern ideas about loneliness

Until recently, missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could phone their families only on Christmas and Mother’s Day. That policy has changed. Now they can phone, video-chat or text home weekly.Designed to help missionaries cope with feelings of disconnection from home and family, the new policy comes as a relief for some, a worry for others. These anxieties are not new, for Americans have long thought about solitude, homesickness and how technology is reshaping th