Why Apps Cannot Replace Temperance

From Return to Order:

Temperance is the virtue whereby individuals govern their natural appetites and passions in accordance with the norms prescribed by reason and Faith. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that temperance “withdraws man from things which seduce the appetite from obeying reason” (II-II, q. 141, a. 2).

Modern society is full of opportunities for intemperance. It facilitates people seeking out the extremes of their impulses and unbridled desires. This supreme intemperance manifests itself in those intense pleasures associated with sexuality, extreme excitement, social acceptance, or the abuse of alcohol, opioids, or drugs. Intemperance tends to intensify and consume individuals as it progresses. Thus, intemperance brings on periods of high nervousness, irregularity, and weakness. People make this intemperance the center of their affections. The intense nervous vibration of these illegitimate pleasures leads to disinterest in the legitimate pleasures of life. (Read more.)