In today’s WaPo Page A 3: “Social Isolation Growing in U.S., Study Says: Researcher Cite Drop in the Average Number of Confidants as an Indicator.” The story reports on the General Social Survey funded by the National Science Foundation being published today. The conclusions receive “I-told-you-so’s” from the likes of Robert Putnam (“Bowling Alone”) and others.
With those billions of cell phone calls occupying what seem to be everyone’s ear and attention how can there be growing isolation? Is this another failure of IT to overcome the impact of dysfunctional human settlement patterns?
Dysfunctional (disaggregated, scattered, unconnected) human settlement patterns (sometimes called “urban sprawl”) cause social isolation? Who would have thought it?
Anyone who has been reading Bacons Rebellion. For details see the social chapters of “The Shape of the Future.” (Chapters 8 and 9.)
EMR
