Br. Anselm Kelly
Solitude. It is a word that is coming to define the 21st century, so says Derek Thompson in his recent article in The Atlantic, “The Anti-Social Century.” Citing statistics from the American Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the article focuses on how Americans have, over the past several decades, gained more leisure time and have elected to spend more of that time alone. While to many the idea of more alone time sounds preferable to socializing, the article presents some troubling effects of this way of living, generating the moniker of “the anti-social century.” For we are not made to be alone nor are we destined to be alone.
As a religious brother living in community, I will readily say that some alone time is a good and necessary thing. Even good, wholesome social interaction can be draining, and we all need time to recharge. We even find evidence of this in the life of Jesus. There are several accounts of Jesus going away from the crowds to be alone. However, the lesson to be learned is not how to have “me time.” Jesus goes out to be alone to pray to the Father.
Still, many of us, when we are alone, look at a screen. According to Thompson, because of our technology, we never really unplug from the world. This leaves our social energy permanently flagging and never allows us to get recharged for new interactions. In other words, it’s not enough to be alone, and we need to be more conscious of what we do when we’re alone. We can pray, read a book, or work on a hobby that interests and refreshes us. If we can successfully unplug from social media and technology, we can have more energy to go out and be present to other people.  » Read More
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2025/02/make-america-social-again-anselm-kelly.html