How to Be Alone
December 07, 2007
As a culture, we don’t have much practice in being alone, even though modern Western culture is unusual in the amount of privacy it offers in its homes. Ever since the 19th century, people in the West have slept in private bedrooms more than at any other time in history, or any other culture in history. You’d think that that would help us develop some skills in being by ourselves. But that’s very rarely the case. When you’re alone in your room, you’re not really alone. Back in the 19th century, when people started living in private bedrooms, sales in novels shot up. Now in the 21st they have all sorts of companions in their rooms: books, magazines, TV, or the Internet. And so with all these clamorous companions, we don’t have much practice in being alone, looking after ourselves.