Grace Brogan

technology has turned film into a home delivery system. Today, the typical American adult buys about three movie tickets a year—and watches almost 19 hours of television, the equivalent of roughly eight movies, on a weekly basis. In entertainment, as in dining, modernity has transformed a ritual of togetherness into an experience of homebound... See more

And to extend this: I see people online constantly lamenting that they can't make or keep friends in adulthood, as if friendship is something that just happens to you rather than something you actively create. This, too, requires intentional effort. Want to get invited to dinner parties? Start throwing them. Menu planning, grocery runs, washing... See more

What is most striking about these videos, however, is the element they typically lack: other people. In these little movies of a life well spent, the protagonists generally wake up alone and stay that way. We usually see no friends, no spouse, no children. These videos are advertisements for a luxurious form of modern monasticism that treats the... See more

But solitude and loneliness are not one and the same. “It is actually a very healthy emotional response to feel some loneliness,” the NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg told me. “That cue is the thing that pushes you off the couch and into face-to-face interaction.” The real problem here, the nature of America’s social crisis, is that most Americans... See more

So doubt is there just so that the faith can be affirmed.

Consider the parents who will tell you, with tears in their eyes, that having children is the most meaningful thing they've ever done. Ask these same people about sleepless nights with colicky babies, teenage rebellion, college tuition anxiety, or the daily negotiations over screen time and vegetables. They won't deny the work... they'll tell you... See more

And the time they spend in solo sedentary leisure has increased, since 2003, more than that of any other group Sayer tracked. This is unfortunate because, as Sayer wrote, “well-being is higher among adults who spend larger shares of leisure with others.” Sedentary leisure, by contrast, was “associated with negative physical and mental health.”