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The Lonely American
- Drifting Apart in the Twenty-First Century
- Narrated by: Joy Shaw
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
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The Lonely American
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Publisher's Summary
In today's world, it is more acceptable to be depressed than to be lonely - yet loneliness appears to be the inevitable byproduct of our frenetic contemporary lifestyle. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, one out of four Americans talked to no one about something of importance to them during the last six months. Another remarkable fact emerged from the 2000 US Census: More people are living alone today than at any point in the country's history - fully 25 percent of households consist of one person only. In this crucial look at one of America's few remaining taboo subjects - loneliness - Drs. Jacqueline Olds and Richard S. Schwartz set out to understand the cultural imperatives, psychological dynamics, and physical mechanisms underlying social isolation.
In The Lonely American, cutting-edge research on the physiological and cognitive effects of social exclusion and emerging work in the neurobiology of attachment uncover startling, sobering ripple effects of loneliness in areas as varied as physical health, children's emotional problems, substance abuse, and even global warming. Surprising new studies tell a grim truth about social isolation: being disconnected diminishes happiness, health, and longevity; increases aggression; and correlates with increasing rates of violent crime. Loneliness doesn't apply simply to single people, either - today's busy parents "cocoon" themselves by devoting most of their nonwork hours to children, leaving little time for friends and other forms of social contact and unhealthily relying on the marriage to fulfill all social needs.
As a core population of socially isolated individuals and families continues to balloon in size, it is more important than ever to understand the effects of a culture that idealizes busyness and self-reliance. It's time to bring loneliness - a very real and little-discussed social epidemic with frightening consequences - out into the open and find a way to navigate the tension between freedom and connection in our lives.
Critic Reviews
"In a wise, quiet, and gentle voice, Drs. Olds and Schwartz offer a devastating portrait of present-day American culture - the fragility of social bonds, the busyness that has become a badge of social worth, the conflict between the need for respite from the frantic pace and the gnawing feelings of exclusion and loneliness that accompany our attempts to slow it down. This is a book for our time, a book that calls all of us to take a serious look at the social and psychological costs of the way we live today." (Dr. Lillian B. Rubin, author of Just Friends, Intimate Strangers, and 60 on Up)
"In today's society the pursuit of individual happiness, materialism, and the frenetic pace of life has led many people unwittingly into lifestyles where they feel lonely and excluded. Yet we know that such states are damaging to physical and mental health. In their important new book, Drs. Olds and Schwartz provide a compassionate and insightful analysis of the conflicting currents that have led to this state of affairs, and they describe ways in which this pattern can be changed through individual and community efforts." (Dr. Bruce S. McEwen, author of The End of Stress as We Know It)
"An insightful, important, and comprehensive look at the causes and effects of the pervasive psychological and social isolation within contemporary American culture. The authors offer wise, compassionate, and helpful strategies toward the renewal of our essential human connections." (Janet L. Surrey, PhD, founding scholar, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Wellesley College, and Samuel Shem, author of The House of God)