Home Sweet Home: What Has Become A Modern Home - Society

In our time, the house is becoming a vague concept. More and more people are abandoning the idea of marriage and having children, the traditional nuclear family - mom, dad, me - is already a rarity. Single mothers share shelter with their parents, spouses live separately. People who are strangers to each other share an apartment. If the house is no longer the place where I was born and lived all my life, how to avoid oppressive loneliness or, conversely, obsessive intimacy?

Reliable berth

The desire to have your own special place in the world is an integral part of human nature. Think of an apartment, a mansion, a barn, or at least a piece of land that you consider your home. Listen to the characteristic images, smells, textures that you associate with this place. Each person will have their own set of sensations. Nevertheless, we are united by the resulting feeling of comfort, security - the associated desire to return home wider than any racial and social differences.

According to neuroanthropologist John S. Allen, evolutionary mechanisms are at the heart of this phenomenon.

• In the wild, sleep is a dangerous activity, so great apes, such as orangutans, build a kind of nest-bed high in trees, where predators cannot reach. In this way, the ancient monkeys were able to improve the quality of sleep, which contributed to the development of a more perfect brain.
• The second meaning of the house for the evolutionary formation of a person is the ability to disconnect from the outside world: to remember some events, to think about the future. When a person is immersed in the safety of his own home, the disturbing circumstances outside the window bother him much less, there is a chance to explore his inner world.
• Finally, the house fulfills a social function: it is the place where relatives and friends stay when you go hunting, where the fire is supported by joint efforts. A stable habitat allowed the first people to form groups, from which a stable society was gradually born.

Together separately

Times are changing, today much less people strive to get along with the whole family under one roof. In search of study and work, young people move to other cities where there are no acquaintances and everything is alien. Parents quarrel with their children, spouses get divorced, financial situation obliges to exchange apartments - everyone has their own circumstances. One way or another, the image of a friendly village seems to have remained in the past, now it's every man for himself. Is it possible to revive the feeling of a home in the new four walls?

American psychologist Bella De Paulo, in her book How We Live Today: In Search of a New Definition of Home and Family in the 21st Century, offers bold solutions that should change the sad picture of modern isolation from home. De Paulo studies traditional American suburban communities, mostly populated by divorced people, retirees, or committed loners. This environment seems to her harmful: living alone in a house is not economical, and the large distance between cottages leads to the fact that it is in suburban communities that friendly relations between neighbors are least often struck. In her opinion, the optimal living space is the neighborhoods occupied by groups of friends, not individual families. In this ideal world, the residents have their own homes, but they gather for the common meals,joint housekeeping or simply to fill the lack of communication. While there are very few such communities in the real world, they do a good job of helping to restore a balance between conflicting aspirations for independence and communication. I wonder how this model is applicable to our realities and whether there is room for imagination in creating a meaningful space for life.

My precious

We tend to treat our cherished places like living people: we value our home, miss it and put so much energy into it that we sometimes cannot devote even to family members and friends. Neuropsychologist Colin Ellard, author of The Secret of the Soul: Psychogeography of Everyday Life, is convinced that real emotions connect us with specific houses and premises, and that soon the relationship with houses will begin to develop on a different level.

According to Ellard, the ideal home gives you the same feelings of security and openness as a close, trusting relationship with a person. People strive to feel that they can behave freely, that they will be accepted and not condemned, and this is how we feel in our own home. In addition, at home we feel like the owners and have the opportunity to control the situation around.

The apogee of this desire for control was the creation of smart home technologies: with one button or using an application on the phone, you can control any equipment, from a thermostat to an electric kettle. Such a house knows how to learn and adapt to the preferences of its owner. Already, there are technologies that allow a single controller to turn on only your favorite radio stations, select recipes for your taste on network resources, remember the choice of purchases in online stores and even make them for you. Does this mean that the house begins to love you in return?

As Colin Ellard suggests, in the future, the home may learn to recognize our emotions and, for example, create a more comfortable level of lighting for the upset tenant or offer a cup of tea. But the other side of this process is the loss of that very control. What if at home I want to freely express my anger or sadness so that no one tries to help me move away from them? This is why, for some people, the idea of a sympathetic home only causes irritation and apprehension.

Office in the apartment

If your home is no longer just a place to rest and sleep, it's time to correctly equip your workplace. Environmental and spatial psychologists argue that the way of thinking and being productive is directly related to the environment, so take on a few tips:

• Delineate zones. Distraction during work can be ineffective, so keep your work area away from TVs, kitchens, or washing machines. The reverse process is also important: try not to leave reminders of work next to the bed, otherwise you risk the quality of your sleep.
• Don't litter the house. The tightness interferes with the free flow of thoughts, since part of the brain processes is spent on scanning space. At the same time, living in an empty white box is also uncomfortable. The ideal solution is to leave motivating items such as family photos or professional awards around the workplace.
• Give freedom to nature. Research shows that employees who have a window in their office work more efficiently and that walking outdoors increases endorphin production and encourages creative thinking. To inspire your brain with natural motives, opt for wood furniture and textured floors, paint the walls in luscious shades of green, and be sure to keep two or three living plants in sight.
• Maintain a minimum noise level. Working in complete silence is not very productive, because the brain becomes much more receptive to any, even minor, sounds and is easier to distract. Play nature sounds or programs that simulate the monotonous hum of public places.

Photo: Losevsky Pavel / Photobank Lori