It costs more to fly solo. That’s according to the Good Housekeeping Institute, which last week released a study claiming single life can cost people up to £2,000 a year more. Even as someone who’s spent a good chunk of time single, and felt the occasional sting of shelling out more for hotels, it was hard not to raise an eyebrow at the figures: the extra costs of luxury gym memberships and Med cruises feel very much like a first-world problem.
But part of me was still glad to see this undoubtedly superficial take. As a society, we barely discuss the realities and implications of singledom. In pop culture singledom is almost invariably represented as an easily fixed unhappy state, a step along the way to getting happily hitched. We know little about the long-term singles: how many relish their freedom and independence, and how many feel burdened with loneliness and hope to meet the love of their life? To what extent is singledom driving social infertility – not having children because you haven’t met Mr or Ms Right? And if so, what does it mean for an ageing society in which we expect family members to care for their older relatives?
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Qge5c2
