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TIME’s #1 Idea That is Changing Your Life: Living Alone Is The New Norm
Time, Mar 12 — The extraordinary rise of solitary living is the biggest social change that we've neglected to identify, let alone examine. Consider that in 1950, a mere 4 million Americans lived alone, and they made up only 9% of households. Back then, going solo was most common in the open, sprawling Western states--Alaska, Montana and Nevada--that attracted migrant workingmen, and it was usually a short-lived stage on the road to a more conventional domestic life.
MoreGoing Solo: Understanding the appeal of the solitary life
The Today Show, Mar 7 — In the beginning of the Old Testament, God creates the world one day at a time: The heavens and the earth. Water. Light. Day and night. Living species of every kind. After each creation, God declares: “It is good.” But the tone changes when God makes Adam. Suddenly, God pronounces the first thing that is not good, lo tov: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” So God makes Eve, and Adam is no longer on his own.
MoreWill Singles & Singletons Cut the Cord?
Wired, Mar 1 — More people live alone today than at any point in recorded history, in absolute numbers and proportionately, too. Until the 1950s, it was impossible to find a single human society that sustained large numbers of singletons (my term for people who live alone) for long periods of time. Today, living alone is common wherever there’s a market economy, a welfare state, and women’s rights.
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