Feeling isolated? You’re not alone, said Ellen Goodman in The Boston Globe. Today, the average American has only two close friends, and almost one in four of us has absolutely no one to confide in. Those are the“startling” findings of Social Isolation in America, a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona. The study found that a rising tide of loneliness has stranded millions of people, with the number of friendless Americans doubling in the last two decades. The reasons are many. As most of us work longer hours just to make ends meet, we have fewer chances to cultivate intimacy. By moving to far-flung exurbs and gated communities, we’ve succeeded in
sequestering ourselves. But the biggest culprit may be the rise of personal technology. Rather than socialize in person, many people now devote their free time to gabbing on cell phones and communicating through e-mail, chat rooms, and Web sites—which provide the illusion of intimacy but not the real thing.
You can’t say we weren’t warned, said Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune. “Long before we logged in to the new Web Age, the old networks of American communities were fraying.” David Riesman’s seminal 1950 book The Lonely Crowd warned that a faceless, corporate conformity was eroding long-standing community ties, and creating social alienation. More recently, in Bowling Alone, Harvard professor Robert Putnam reported that participation in organized civic groups and activities such as unions, PTAs, and even picnics was dropping precipitously. The problem, it seems, is too much of a good thing. “We Americans are a restless people who take pride in our autonomy and self-reliance.” Now it looks as if we rugged individualists have gotten what we wanted—with a vengeance. (From The Week Magazine)