25% of young Americans aged 18 to 24 eat every meal alone—'a virtual doubling of what it was two decades ago,' expert says
25% of young Americans aged 18 to 24 eat every meal alone—'a virtual doubling of what it was two decades ago,' expert says
One thing I think helped me to get to my ideal weight was living alone. Then I only ate when I was hungry, not when anyone else was eating because I wanted to spend time with them.
Hey well that's something. Genuinely good news and a genuine improvement over how things were
in what way? food is a social connection to culture, and meals are cultural participation. i see this and i hear that people are more isolated than they've ever been before, making solving our problems harder and everyone easier to manipulate
Culture is a spook.
Manipulate
Being more isolated makes it harder to manipulate you, because you don't pick up normie behaviours by osmosis, and corpos target the broadest demographic possible for the attention sucking slop.
If I was surrounded by people who just thought ads were fine, maybe I would be paying for netflix with ads. But I had time alone to develop my own thoughts on the matter and I go to great lengths to block ads for instance. Likewise I don't understand the appeal of microblog social media like twitter/bluesky/masto.
Meals are cultural participation
That's Brainrot. Meals are food and not much more than that. They can be enjoyable, but oftentimes to be truly enjoyable you kinda need to be alone, it just isn't the same diving into comfort food at home vs at a public place lol.
But the trouble is housing prices are through the roof. People are packed tighter than cattle with strangers or staying with families long past due. It ain't right and it does untold damage to the psyche to never have personal space - it is a crime of capitalism that we have a huge, largely untouched planet and empty homes galore while people are forced to surrender all privacy for the privilege of enriching their overlords.
I've been very fortunate in that I've been able to afford living alone in one way or another since 18, and I value that greatly because I wouldn't be half the person I am from an intellectual, emotional, developmental and any other perspective if I didn't have that time.
So to me - I am very glad that young folk are finding a way to carve out a moment to themselves, especially one as enjoyable as mealtime.
Probably related to education and being broke, yeh?
Working a shit job and having to tolerate roommates doesn’t exactly equate to having time, money, or ability to eat regular meals with friends and family.
I’m 42 and have been enjoying my lonely meals for at least 20 years…
Ah, yes, smartphone bad has to be the leading cause. It couldn't possibly be something to do with the fact that, of young adults who still live with their parents, many have worldviews antithetical to that of their parents, and simply don't want the headache of repetitive and predictable conflict when their father starts ranting about how the country is going to shit because of goddamn commies like Joe Manchin, or similar nonsense. And for those who live apart from their parents, it most certainly has nothing to do with the degradation of our working conditions, such that many full-time workers have schedules that are inconsistent from day to day, and week to week, and full-time hours are contingent on having 100% open availability to work, making it exceedingly difficult to sync up the meal time schedules for two working adults. I'm also pretty sure the rising cost of living and stagnant wages also haven't done anything to curtail the ability of young adults to go and eat out with friends. Must be the damned smartphone.
Oh yes the smartphone a device that lets you talk to one of any billions of people it must be the cause of social isolation /s
I'm not sure how that's dystopian.
Are you supposed to invite people to your home every time you eat a meal?
Regularly having lunch or dinner with others is really good for your mental and social health.
At 18-24 it should be a combination of family, partners, and friends.
When I was that age I was spending at least one night a week with friends which included dinner/snacks. Hell sometimes we'd get high or grab some beers and make breakfast to fuel a day of young adult bullshit. Lunches were often with my college social group between classes. And I'd often have a meal with my mom whike taking her to Dr's appointments.
If young adults aren't spending meals with family, friends, or partners on a regular basis they're likely incredibly isolated. Hell this implies they arent even sharing meals with coworkers whether it's lunch or grabbing a bite and a beer after work.
Makes sense. I guess I'm in the minority or well majority now.
But I think expecting every other meal to be shared with someone else is still too much.
For 18-24 year olds still living with their parents sure. But relationships and partners nowadays are becoming rarer. No idea how frequent going to eat with friends is, but I'd expect it to not be the majority of the time.
I can't get my kids to sit at the dinner table with us. They prefer eating in their perspective places.
same
I remember back in the day eating meals listening to podcasts. It felt lonely....
Meals are one of the few times a day where I can fuck off any NOT have to talk to anyone.
Especially lunch. Apparently, according to some people, it's weird to go to a restaurant alone. 30 minutes of peace where no one bothers me? It's amazing.