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Implications of Lots of Old Single People
There's a documentary I watched a couple weeks ago on Netflix about how there are an increasing number of single adults. As a single adult, this is a subject of interest to me. Based on the documentary and some articles I read after watching it, I came to the following opinions:
1. The primary cause of there being lots of old single people is work/education/career. Basically, now that women have entered the workforce, they can no longer be "kept" by men. Sorry dudes. Party's over. Hey, we had a good run though, a few thousand years ain't bad.
2. Increase in divorce rate is also a factor in the proliferation of old single people. Why has the divorce rate risen over a long-term? I think it is a multitude of factors: women entering the workforce, greater social acceptance of homosexuals, and acceptance of more diverse family structures due to macroeconomic impositions and the decline of religion, to name a few.
3. The documentary highlighted that there is a trend towards less "settling." Meaning the rationale is increasingly being, "it's better to be old and single than with someone you don't like."
So is it okay to be old and single? The documentary talked about how as recently as the early 20th century it was common to view an old single lady as immoral. Now, it seems there is greater social acceptance of old single people. Though, I think people will still fear being old and lonely, and the biological clock still ticks loud and clear. Though I'm sure with the crappy food supply most folks eat that will get turned off soon enough. Really, I hope people invest more in eating well. So important. Just shop at Whole Foods, they understand how to make stuff convenient and commercial and most of the stuff in there is legit. At least in the one by me. I was skeptical of them at first, because it seemed to good to be true that such an awesome company could exist in the food industry. But I'm starting to become a believer.
But anyway, women still have the baby clock, most people value the emotional security, so I think there will still be a stigma to being old and single.
Though I don't mind. I'm fairly content being old (age 29) and single, can't complain really. For better or worse, the number of people like me is growing. This will have cultural implications, in my opinion. Internet dating sites is one such implication, but I suspect there are many more, and identifying them early can alert us to potential profit opportunities in some way, I think.
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