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 these feelings.
Nineteenth-century Americans considered homesickness a serious disease, which they termed “nostalgia.” Doctors claimed individuals far from home could die of it and documented its fatal effects.