Social Life

Suicide rates have been rising dramatically. But of special concern, as reported in The New York Times is the number of middle-aged men killing themselves: “Suicide has typically been viewed as a problem of teenagers and the elderly, and the surge in suicide rates among middle-aged Americans is surprising.” (See, “Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S.”) Read More

No one disagrees that the gap is widening. Everyone agrees that it isn't a good thing. The disagreement comes in understanding its causes and cures. Read More

When I was kid solicitous adults didn't gently ask a child “Are you happy?” after giving him or her something nice (an ice-cream cone, a college education, a car). Instead, when I was a kid adults demanded to know “Are you happy NOW?” after something terrible happened (your ice-cream cone fell in the gutter, you failed math, you vehicle was impounded). Is it generational? Read More

Consider: In 2010, users spent more than twice as much time on dating websites as they did on dating apps. Just one year later, in 2011, users spent slightly more time on dating apps than they did on dating websites. Here is a sampling of mobile dating apps that are helping people find romantic or sexual connections – often in inventive ways. Read More

Fewer Americans are married today than ever before, and the age at which people do marry is steadily increasing. Millennials don't appear to look to marriage as part of their definition of self, nor do they rank a good marriage as one of their top priorities. What does that mean for them, and the culture as a whole? Read More

This coming Thursday, the Boy Scouts of America will make a landmark decision about whether or not to allow gays as adult leaders. As a society it has become time for us to ask why it is that we feel homosexuality is “wrong.” Read More

Text messaging, Facebook and email are all working to elbow aside usual human communications. Because human relations are intense, confusing, demanding and ambiguous, humans may prefer connections wherein a certain polite distance is retained. Read More

Acclaimed writer Bret Easton Ellis wants to divide the LGBT communities in two—e.g., “manly dudes” vs. “femmy queens,” “real guys vs.stereotypes,” and “us vs. them.” This leaves no room for vulnerability or variety (either for Easton Ellis or the rest of us). How can we understand this tendency to limit our concepts of identity, and instead, learn to expand them? Read More

The resignation of Jason Richwine from the Heritage Foundation raised the profile of racist views about IQ. Expect new publicity soon for genetic claims about intelligence, as Chinese scientists try to find genes that affect intelligence. Read More