Alone

Psychologists have recently noticed that people have become increasingly isolated socially from each other in the present. Due to all of the virtual gadgets that are now the norm in our lives, communication and companionship seem  to have taken a back seat. "Remarkably, 25% of Americans have no meaningful social support at all - not a single person they can confide in. And over half of all Americans report having no close confidants or friends outside their immediate family. The situation today is much worse today than it was when similar data were gathered in 1985,"(Psychology Today).  We have moved out of the comforts of company and into our own self involved worlds. "Even Americans of a few generations ago used to benefit from a richness of community life that has all but disappeared, as we've witnessed a long, slow retreat into the hermetically sealed comfort of our fortress-like homes..."(Psychology Today).

The idea of social isolation has a lot to do with the themes present in my work. My figure lives in some form of isolation with this mysterious relationship with the light. Others are never present in this mental world although much time passes. The idea of how we have begun to stray away from others and form a band with ourselves really touches on what my work has to do with.

"Social Isolation: A Modern Plague | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a Therapist. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-depression-cure/200907/social-isolation-modern-plague>.

I found this article to be very interesting due to the evidence it showed about how we are drifting apart. I raises great points about why this is happening due to new gadgets as well as the hours we work and commute. I found it very interesting though to read about how this so negatively effects us because we are meant to live in small groups that we grow close with. We are made to have companionship. The articles brings up the sad statistics about how so many people (25%) feel that they have no kind of companionship or support group.