The speed of the “feed” versus the slowness of understanding: we live suspended between these two extremes, scrolling through content but rarely processing it. podcast Relief returns tomorrow with its fifth season, bringing a countercurrent proposal to this fragmented landscape. Not another content to be consumed distractedly, but a space for guided reflection where Alexander Calderoni, already a well-known voice of RMC and Virgin Radio, invites us to stop, breathe and look beyond the surface. This new edition, which will see alternating new illustrious guests and exponents of the scientific world, also proposes the presence of the column Near future. I myself will have the opportunity to chat with Alessandro and explore the connections between science, technology and society, trying to decipher with him the signals of the changes underway, while the world seems to swing dangerously between digital euphoria and existential anxiety.
A necessary return in uncertain times
Relief is not just a podcast, but a real rapid psychological relief service, created to deal with emotional emergencies and promote daily well-being. You can find it physically in Milan (in the MM5 subway, Isola stop) and online at www.reliefpsicologico.it; and from tomorrow it will also be back in your ears, on all the main podcast platforms. Because if there is a moment in which we need tools to orient ourselves in the contemporary emotional fog, that moment is now. And just as the compass does not invent the north, but helps us find it, so Relief does not pretend to invent answers, but to provide us with tools to elaborate our own. An idea more necessary than brilliant, and brilliant it is.
Insights and self-kindness
For this fifth season, Alessandro Calderoni promises an even deeper dive into the often murky waters of the human psyche. Light chit-chat, of course, but as part of a journey into the depths of human experiences: victories, defeats, and that ability to “manage” everyday life that seems increasingly rare.
I expect a season in which the illustrious guests go even deeper into the description of their lives, their emotions and in which we can draw examples from both the negative events and the experiences of resilience witnessed through the interviews.
Particularly interesting is the new attention toself-healing and kindness towards oneself; concepts that sound almost subversive in an era that would like us to always perform, always connected, always “on”. The three techniques for emotional regulation that Calderoni will propose in each episode are not yet another instruction manual for becoming efficient robots, but an invitation to remember that we are human; gloriously imperfect and wonderfully incomplete.
A mirror of our time
The panorama that Alessandro Calderoni describes is as dark as it is realistic. We have gone from the claustrophobia of our homes during the pandemic to the agoraphobia of a world that seems to be expanding in threatening directions, even to thescrolling anxiety.
Today it seems to me that people are fearful, frightened by the big arguments that are provided by the information. We have gone from the extremely small of houses to the extremely large of a world that changes borders.
And in this context, we find ourselves paradoxically hyperconnected but analytically disarmed, rich in information but poor in understanding, capable of knowing everything about any subject but unable to tolerate the slightest frustration. A merciless picture? Perhaps. But definitely accurate. And if the diagnosis is correct, Relief might actually be a part of the therapy.
Future Prossimo in the Relief podcast: a curious bridge between present and future
For my part, I will continue to bring in the column Near future a look at the technological, scientific and social changes that are reshaping our horizon. This year, the podcast is also enriched by the partnership with People, the historic Italian current affairs magazine, and its digital counterpart People.it. An alliance that demonstrates how good ideas can still find a home in traditional media, when they have the intelligence to evolve without distorting themselves.
In the sidebar of this site you will find, as always, the box that will connect you directly to the episodes as they come out. I invite you to listen, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other platform you prefer. A sincere good luck to Alessandro: because in confusing times like these, lucid voices are never enough; and Relief promises to be just that: not an answer to everything, but a compass to find your own answers.
And in an age of prefabricated certainties, this is already an act of courage.
