Posted on 12/16/2014 4:54:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The number of Americans who choose to live alone continues to grow.
So finds a recent Current Population Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to The Washington Post, the survey found that "the proportion of Americans who live alone has grown steadily since the 1920s, increasing from roughly 5 percent then to 27 percent in 2013."
The Post reports the number of men living alone doubled to 12 percent from 1970 to 2012. Some 15 percent of households are comprised of women living alone. In large urban areas, such as Manhattan and Washington, "about half of households have single occupants, and in some neighborhoods the proportion is two-thirds..."
And why are more people living alone? Because they want to. The more their economic means have allowed it, the more people have chosen to get their own digs.
As someone who lives alone, I'm just not so sure this is a good thing.
I compare the way many single people live today with the home in which I grew up. I lived with five sisters, two parents and a dog. Until I was 12, we had only one shower. We had to share and be considerate of others.
This was during the '70s and '80s, when the shag haircut - the long, full Farrah Fawcett hair - was all the rage, which meant my sisters were spending a lot of time washing, conditioning and drying their hair in our only full bathroom.
My poor father spent many of his adult years sitting on his bed in his robe, waiting to get a shower so he could go to work or to the store. His bedroom was at the far end of the house, however. No sooner did he hear the bathroom door open and begin heading down the hallway than he'd hear it slam shut again - someone else going in to get a shower.
The only way I ever got in was by threatening to use my sisters' toothbrushes.
Our house was a chaotic place. Friends, family and neighbors were always coming and going. The doors were never locked. If you set anything you owned on a table, somebody would relocate it and you'd never see it again. And when something broke, which was about a dozen times every day, my sisters blamed me and everyone was happy.
Well, unlike the way I grew up, I live alone now and have total command over my little world. This is not good. Because there is no one to tell me to clean, I follow the P.J. O'Rourke school of thought: I clean my place about once every girlfriend.
You see, because I live alone, most daily activities are all about me and only me. And because so many people are living as I do, I wonder whether more of our population is becoming more isolated and insular.
More of us are coming home to orderly little worlds that have not been disturbed by the presence of other people. We don't hear the sound of a baby crying or a stereo playing. We don't know the scent of cookies being baked as a gift to us. We don't know the chaos or uncertainty that always occurs when you live with creatures as unpredictable as human beings - people who help us escape the narrowness of ourselves.
No, instead we know an orderly little existence. We have total control over every piece of furniture, every ounce of shampoo in the bathroom and every scrap of food in the refrigerator - though I admit I don't toss things out of my refrigerator often enough.
Much like comedian Blake Clark, I had one milk carton in my refrigerator so long, it had a picture of the Lindbergh baby printed on the back of it.
Maybe we should have boarding houses again where each person gets a room and the meals are eaten and served at a dining table downstairs.
There is something to be said for having others look out for you, at least someone would know if you’d been kidnapped or not. Now they’d probably have too much “nonsense” going on so there wouldn’t BE any safety.
What exactly is the author trying to say? He says its not a good thing to live alone, and says life was chaotic in his house growing up. But I don’t see where he says why it is not good to live alone. And he says he lives alone. He notes the contrast between life alone and a chaotic house without telling us what the downside of living alone is.
One of the things I miss most about having other people in the house is the opportunity to blame any mess on them.
Some of us are now beyond the chance to find a companion to share the last years.
There is always the downside of having a medical crisis and having no one to call 911.
It sounds like he dislikes having to take responsibility for his own life. He is used to being directed or alert and dislikes having to do it himself. It sounds like he equates living together with being taken care of and would prefer to be taken care of.
My grandmother remarried at 75ish.
Sounds like heaven. I love my daughters, but in general agree with Sartre.
I plan to die with dignity at the bottom of the basement stairs just like God intended.
Even with six people living in the house, I still have a maid come in every two weeks to do a deep cleaning. Best money my wife and I spend. So worth it and in the end gives us more time to have family time. Win-Win.
I think he is inferring that when living alone you have only your own needs to consider. The potential for becoming self centered is a downside.
There is always the downside of having a medical crisis and having no one to call 911.
Even with a bunch of people at home, you could be in another room, or others could be outside or shopping, working anything. No guarantees. Many people have died with others in the very home the death happened.
I have lived alone for maybe 12 months in my entire life. And since my wifes family has long life lines and mine doesn’t I don’t expect that number will change.
That’s not what he’s saying. Living alone makes it easy to be selfish. Living with others helps us get over our selfishness because we have to look out for each other. Living in tight spaces with others builds character.
I think the “living alone” definition is a little skewed. Many people are the only people living in their dwelling, but are nevertheless intimately connected to nearby family, friends and faith communities. I don’t count these as “living alone.”
After 30 years, raising 2 kids and two wives, (one at a time, of course), I’m glad to live alone.
I lived alone for 5 years, the last 1 1/2 with a steady girlfriend who lived with her parents. She never stayed during the week and on weekends I spent more time across the river at her folks house then she did at my place.
Even when we got engaged, she stayed with her folks. After we got married, I shut the place down, sold all my stuff and we rented an apartment where we bought the minimal to get us started.
Been married 25 years to that lovely gal.
My grandmother is 88 Years old and lives alone. It helps that she knows every other elderly person in town, my sister lives a couple blocks away, and other family visits pretty much daily.
Living like a slob has nothing to do with living alone. Plenty of singles keep their homes immaculate and plenty of homes with multiple residents are pig stys.
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