Eating Alone, Eating Lonely

As of writing this, I have never eaten a meal alone on campus.  I’m not sure if many people can make that claim, or if practically no one can; but, every meal I have partaken in has included at least one other person.  These meals were mostly a social gathering as opposed to a time for sustenance.

                This is in stark contrast to my meals at home, which were usually eaten by alone.  Maybe once a week, my family would gather around our dining room table and eat the “family dinner” together.  These, however, were of a marked contrast to being at school, because not talking, and to that extent, avoiding eye contact, was the main theme.  We nourished our bodies, and then we left.  That is not to say that my family was antisocial, but rather, because dinner had a propensity to turn into a “lively” debate that we figured it was better not to talk, rather than creating a large argument.

                Another factor in why we often didn’t eat together was due to the fact that we were all busy.  If my brother wasn’t home, he was at football practice.  If my sister wasn’t there, it was due to a basketball game or confirmation meetings.  My younger sister was at soccer, and I honestly can’t keep track of all the times I ate dinner at eleven p.m. because I had been at school from seven that morning, and was not in the mood for talking.

                Putnam’s article seemed to be rather dated, in the sense that it does not factor in different forms of communication or what constitutes something as hanging out.  Sometimes, people communicate in different ways.  While at St. Olaf, I have received more texts in a given month than I did for the entirety of my high school career.  These texts are sometimes a casual “hey, what’s up?” but oftentimes they’re something along the lines of “Do you want to grab dinner tonight?”

                It feels as though Putnam’s focus upon people not being in regulated organizations (weekly poker nights, bowling leagues) does not mesh with his argument that we’re less engaged as a whole. Perhaps people are less organized nowadays, but I don’t think we’re looking actively to go “bowling alone” as if it were.  There is a definite push for being social and joining things, but on people’s own terms.  There are still weekly movie nights for people, just as Wednesdays in Minnesota seem to be inevitably reserved for religion.  His focus upon a lack of communication amongst the American public seems flawed in the age of Twitter, Facebook and unlimited texting.  As the younger demographic in the American public, I must say that I feel incredibly in touch with every one whether within an organization or within a group of friends.