Live alone? You're not alone; Seismic increase in 1 person households

[Liberal_in_LA]

Live alone? You're not alone

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"I would argue that the rise of living alone represents the greatest social change of the last 60 years that we have failed to name or identify," said NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg. "This is a transformation that has touched all of us, whether we live alone or it's just someone in our family or friendship circle who does."

And then there's Manhattan, an urban island where almost HALF of all households are made up of just one person - where millions of people seek safe harbor tonight in an empty apartment.

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She aced that test. And sociologist Klinenberg says she should be proud. He calls single people "indispensible."

"They go out into the world like no one else does and spend time and money in bars and restaurants, in cafes, in gyms, in clubs," he said. "They're the ones who are most likely to go to public events - book readings, art classes, all kinds of public activities that give life to city streets."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57437837/live-alone-youre-not-alone/?tag=strip

[CakeGrrl]

1. Raises hand

Well, if you don't count my dog.

I admit to stimulating the economy a bit - there's a degree of freedom to shopping for what you want, going wherever the mood strikes, and so on...as one's budget allows, of course.

[Brickbat]

2. I loved living alone. I never planned on getting married.

[Archae]

3. I'm 52, and very grateful to live alone for decades.

Well, besides my cats.

[silverweb]

4. And spawning wonderful new ideas.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I've lived alone with my cats for the last 5+ years and I love it. I also love simple, compact living and closely follow the new design ideas popping up all over.

Graham Hill of Treehugger just had a spread in the NY Times about his "Life Edited" small apartment design in NYC and he's partnering with a Las Vegas developer to create compact, versatile singles housing there.

There will still be single-family homes and traditional/nontraditional families living together, but I think singles living is going to be much more the norm than it has been. Now that my kids are grown and I'm still young enough to do pretty much whatever I want, I am thoroughly enjoying myself... and looking forward to a midtown apartment in a pretty cool city real soon.

[virgogal]

5. I live alone and LOVE it. (Raised 6 kids,divorced,pure bliss now.)

[jwirr]

6. We must have two separate patterns evolving. Living alone and moving in with a friend or relative

because you cannot live alone. I might as well live alone - grandson is a gamester and hardly ever is off the computer.

[Historic NY]

7. Alone in the NY burbs.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Ooh, I'm an Indispensible.

Giving life to the suburban streets.