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40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

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Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#81

Post by whywhywhywhy »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #46
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living close to friends and having a community that knows/supports each other helps a lot but living with friends is a good way to end up with less friends. Someone you can stand being around all day is very different than someone you really enjoy spending a few hours a month with.

> Someone you can stand being around all day is very different than someone you really enjoy spending a few hours a month with One is a friend. The other an acquaintance.

This isn't true at all and a pretty ridiculous statement. How someone lives in their own home has no impact on what their company is like in the outside world. Someone could be a bit of a hoarder, not do the dishes often enough, stay up to 3am listening to music none of that has anything to do with how good of a friend they are but it does matter if you live with them.

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#82

Post by OGEnthusiast »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #43

When I was a twentysomething, I had roommates. This saved money on rent and bulk purchases (which let me spend more time having fun and save money) and provided a starter-kit social circle in a new city. It also honed conflict-resolution skills and ability to be civil. And when I got a partner, it made moving in together smoother. Something I’ve noticed recently is many college graduates living alone. That’s fine. Bu…

There's a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease. Most people who can afford to live alone would prefer to have their own place. This is just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries).

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#83

Post by johnea »

So what?

After living with parents, roommates, spouses and others for most of my life, I'm super happy to live alone.

Has anyone stopped to think that possibly people live alone because that's what they want to do?

I can only think of a quote from one of my favorite youtube videos of all time:

"The monkey's feel alone, all 6 billion of them..."

From: Ernest Cline's spoken word reading of Dance Monkey, Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOdNY-HdG0

Watch it, it's worth it...

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#84

Post by bradlys »

Why are people complaining about this? It's not even that high of an amount compared to several other developed nations. It's not a recent trend either. It's been going on for over 30 years.

No one here seems to care about the objective number (40 million) - they instead care about the relative amount (29%). If you look at the graph and track the percent, it's been at or over 25% since 1990. Having your share go from 25% to 29% in 35 years is not really that meaningful.

This isn't a new phenomenon in the US. The graph sucks because it hides the fact that the US population has been growing steadily.

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#85

Post by JumpCrisscross »

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #82
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #43

When I was a twentysomething, I had roommates. This saved money on rent and bulk purchases (which let me spend more time having fun and save money) and provided a starter-kit social circle in a new city. It also honed conflict-resolution skills and ability to be civil. And when I got a partner, it made moving in together smoother. Something I’ve noticed recently is many college graduates living alone. That’s fine. Bu…

There's a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease. Most people who can afford to live alone would prefer to have their own place. This is just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries).

> a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease

Life involves taking risks and measuring people. Getting stuck with a shitty roommate is pretty low stakes on that spectrum.

> just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries)

Valid hypothesis. I’d posit Covid and the increasingly prevalence of single-child households are the more-proximate cause.

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#87

Post by tayo42 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #85
OGEnthusiast wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease. Most people who can afford to live alone would prefer to have their own place. This is just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries).

> a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease Life involves taking risks and measuring people. Getting stuck with a shitty roommate is pretty low stakes on that spectrum. > just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries) Valid hypothesis. I’d posit Covid and the increasingly prevalence of single-chi…

You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that.

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#88

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tayo42 wrote: post #87
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a huge gamble with roommates that you might be stuck with someone terrible in a year (or longer) lease Life involves taking risks and measuring people. Getting stuck with a shitty roommate is pretty low stakes on that spectrum. > just a sign that people are getting richer (since this same trend is happening in all first-world countries) Valid hypothesis. I’d posit Covid and the increasingly prevalence of single-chi…

You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that.

> You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that

I lived in New York in an illegally-subdivided loft. Yes, I’ve had bad roommates. Yes, it felt overwhelming at first. And yes, I got over it, constraining the problem where possible and addressing it directly where necessary, a suite of skills that were probably instrumental in my start-up later working.

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#89

Post by [deleted] »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #88
tayo42 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that.

> You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that I lived in New York in an illegally-subdivided loft. Yes, I’ve had bad roommates. Yes, it felt overwhelming at first. And yes, I got over it, constraining the problem where possible and addressing it directly where necessary, a suite of skills that were probably instrumental in my start-up later working.

[deleted]

Re: 40M Americans Live Alone, 29% of households

#90

Post by OGEnthusiast »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #88
tayo42 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that.

> You definitely havent had bad roommates if you say that I lived in New York in an illegally-subdivided loft. Yes, I’ve had bad roommates. Yes, it felt overwhelming at first. And yes, I got over it, constraining the problem where possible and addressing it directly where necessary, a suite of skills that were probably instrumental in my start-up later working.

Not accusing you of this directly, but this sounds like trying to get people to just accept lower living standards.
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