https://qz.com/quartzy/1748191/how-millennials-became-a-generation-of-homebodies/amp
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Nobody wants to leave their apartment anymore. That's the prevailing sentiment on the internet, anyway. Mean Girls memes and Viola Davis gifs celebrate the joy of canceling plans. Essays offer neuroscience-backed explanations of the relief that comes with bailing on drinks, while listicles and trend pieces promote the homebody lifestyle. Advice columns enumerate tips for backing out of social plans without losing your friends. The weekly newsletter Girls Night In features "recommendations for a cozy night in" alone or with girlfriends, including books, recipes, gratitude exercises, and candles. And at last count, Etsy offered 11,490 introvert-branded items celebrating a life of blissful solitude, from enamel pins emblazoned with the motto "Anti-Social Butterfly" to t-shirts declaring, "It's way too people-y outside."
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The rise of millennial hermits is a bit puzzling at first blush. Sure, staying inside has its advantages. You're sheltered from the elements. You can watch TV, which has gotten really good. Your pet is there, if you have a pet. And everyone needs downtime, some of us more than others.
But where are those others, exactlythe people who actually look forward to socializing, at least some of the time? (A search for Etsy products tagged "extrovert" yields a mere 443 results, many of which are actually about introverts.) And if countries around the world, from the US and the UK to Japan and Denmark, are supposedly in the grips of a massive loneliness crisis, why are so many people declaring that their greatest desire in life is to take off their pants and nestle ever-deeper into the couch?
How many of you GB superstars are hermits?Quote:
Of course, if you're also talking to other people online, you're not entirely solitary. And so the internet has given rise to a new kind of night in. We may indeed feel relaxed and cozy beneath our weighted anti-anxiety blankets, relieved to be spared the rituals of shots and small talk and shouting over music. Still, there's a part of us that wants to connect. So we reach for our phones, wanting to share the pleasure we take in being alone.
