The Anti-Social Century: How Solitude is Reshaping America
"The federal government's been looking and asking people about how they spend their time for about 60 years. We've never spent less time socializing or more time by ourselves. ... The individual preference for solitude, scaled up across society and exercised repeatedly over time, is rewiring America’s civic and psychic identity . ” - Derek Thompson How Solitude is Reshaping America In Derek Thompson’s cover story for The Atlantic , titled “The Anti-Social Century,” he explores a critical yet underappreciated social trend: Americans are spending more time alone than ever before, and this shift has profound implications for our personalities, politics, and overall societal health. Thompson’s work reveals that self-imposed solitude has become a defining feature of 21st-century life, fueled by technology and modern conveniences. While alone time can be restorative, the pervasive and habitual isolation experienced by many Americans is reshaping the civic and psychological ...