Front Porch
This week, I happened to tune into the Tom Ashbrook show On Point and this was the topic (exerpt taken from his webpage http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/06/20060628_a_main.asp ):
"In the era of cell phones, email, and MySpace you might think that Americans are more connected to their closest friends than ever. But in fact, they're more alone. At least that's the conclusion of new research. According to the new study, one in four Americans say they have no one to talk to about their personal problems. Twice as many people as two decades ago. It's an alienation exacerbated perhaps by long, lonely commutes, longer work hours, two-career families, and the rise of the Internet. The fear is that this growing social isolation is fraying Americans' emotional safety nets -- even threatening their physical well-being."
Besides this being good news for a number of my parents that make their living in being paid to listen to people's problems, I think this is so sad. One of the callers made the example of this situation be the disappearance of the front porch. Most new home are now being built with huge decks and living areas in the back of the homes, surrounded by landscaping or fences. The experts spoke about how the drastic decline of people being friends with their neighbors directly affects how lonely they feel. It makes sense, friendships require a lot of time, face to face time and most of us are too busy to really invest what might be our most precious resource, in this way. Twenty years ago people were making these friendships in their immediate community. And, although people have many more friends today than they did twenty years ago, because it is easier to stay in touch via the internet, cell phone, etc. these are not the type of quality relationships that people crave. I am not sure why I needed to blog about this except to say: Give your neighbor some love next time you see them -- I sure am!
"In the era of cell phones, email, and MySpace you might think that Americans are more connected to their closest friends than ever. But in fact, they're more alone. At least that's the conclusion of new research. According to the new study, one in four Americans say they have no one to talk to about their personal problems. Twice as many people as two decades ago. It's an alienation exacerbated perhaps by long, lonely commutes, longer work hours, two-career families, and the rise of the Internet. The fear is that this growing social isolation is fraying Americans' emotional safety nets -- even threatening their physical well-being."
Besides this being good news for a number of my parents that make their living in being paid to listen to people's problems, I think this is so sad. One of the callers made the example of this situation be the disappearance of the front porch. Most new home are now being built with huge decks and living areas in the back of the homes, surrounded by landscaping or fences. The experts spoke about how the drastic decline of people being friends with their neighbors directly affects how lonely they feel. It makes sense, friendships require a lot of time, face to face time and most of us are too busy to really invest what might be our most precious resource, in this way. Twenty years ago people were making these friendships in their immediate community. And, although people have many more friends today than they did twenty years ago, because it is easier to stay in touch via the internet, cell phone, etc. these are not the type of quality relationships that people crave. I am not sure why I needed to blog about this except to say: Give your neighbor some love next time you see them -- I sure am!
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