a [shock](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shock) is a sudden disturbance in equilibrium – [[Klein, Naomi - 2023 - Doppelganger|naomi klein]] [[shock is the gap that opens up between event and existing narratives|expands]]: > A state of shock is what happens to us – individually or as a society – when we experience a sudden and unprecedented event for which we do not yet have an adequate explanation. At its essence, a shock is the gap that opens up between event and existing narratives to explain that event. ([[Klein, Naomi - 2023 - Doppelganger|pg. 7-8]]) what we’re experiencing is the threatening or breakdown of our existing worldview; what’s happened is so drastically opposed to what we understand about our reality that it feels like the very image of our reality has distorted or collapsed. this creates a meaning vacuum – see [[data voids are gaps in information online|{10.2a} datavoids]] for how media manipulators exploit meaning vacuums for political and ideological gain online. we might also think of this as a breakdown in our sense of [[{1.1c} a strong sense of identity requires a sense of continuity|{1.1a} continuity]], or as an experience that is especially difficult to [[integration is facilitated by dialoguing with our past, present, and future selves|{1.1a1a} integrate]]. see, too, [[boyd, danah - 2018 - You Think You Want Media Literacy|boyd]]: “Nothing can radicalize someone more than feeling like you’re being lied to. Or when the world order you’ve adopted comes crumbling down.” take, for example, a natural disaster. losing your home or community is a shock in the loss itself, but it’s also a shock to your established sense of safety, it creates shockwaves in your relationships, it fundamentally shifts how you exist in the world. that experience needs to be “metabolized” – accepted as part of your life experience and integrated into your broader understanding of self. this isn’t just true for individual shocks and traumas; we have to metabolize collective traumas collectively. shock disrupts our communal senses-of-self too. [[{1.3a} we have to un-self collectively]]. >[!trailhead]- trails >`⬆️`[[{1.1c1} a sense of continuity comes from the integration of experiences, evolving senses-of-self, and identity elements over time]] > >⬅️ [[integration is facilitated by dialoguing with our past, present, and future selves]] >➡️ [[{1.1c3a} stability is connection to, while recovery is reorientation toward, one's location in time and space]] > >⬇️ [[{1.1c2} liminal identity]]