Living alone

[firecat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/living-alone-means-being-social.html?_r=1&ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all

"One's a Crowd" by Eric Kleinenberg

This opinion piece claims that single people who live alone socialize more than people who are married.

At one point the discussion is of "singletons," people who live by themselves, but then the article confusingly slides into discussion of "single people," by which I assume is meant "people who are not in any romantic relationships," and contrasts them with "married people," by which I assume is meant "people who are legally married." That leaves out a lot of people. What about people in monogamous romantic relationships who live apart from their partner? What about poly people?

Kleinenberg goes on to discuss how the Internet can "make living alone a social experience" and claims "Internet use does not seem to cut people off from real friendships and connections." {I'M SHOCKED!!!}

The article is mostly focused on people with enough financial resources to live alone. But the author claims that despite the economy, the proportion of people living alone continues to rise.

Comments

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

I was mostly struck at how insistent old folks were about living alone. I guess that's the stereotype, but maybe it's real.