ABSTRACT

My thesis will consist of a thorough research on the subject of “urban solitude “, the loneliness that individuals experience in an immense and cosmopolitan city such as New York. My research areas will include topics such as how personal this solitude is, whether it is an inevitable consequence of the fast paced environment of a hasty city, or whether it is a personal choice.  To what extent is culture involved?

Having moved to New York from the city of Istanbul, I have experienced a lot of cultural differences, which is not unusual.  One of the differences that has strike me is that people seem a lot more lonely in this city.  My first comparison has been in Starbucks, comparing the Starbucks in Istanbul and the ones in New York.  In Istanbul coffee drinking is a traditional act, it is an excuse to socialize, and to chit chat. In New York, Starbucks is full of people who are constantly working, people with their laptops, books or cell phones. It seemed to me as though the means of communication of people in New York has shifted from one on one conversations to other media, such as instant messaging, emailing or talking on the phone.

Undoubtedly, the different cultures that make up these cities determine the people’s lifestyles.  United States is a far more developed country than Turkey, which causes technology to interfere a lot more with people’s lives. Even the corporate system in the United States is very well disciplined whereas the work environment in Turkey is more laid back,  and more social.

It is not that I don’t see people socializing in New York City. However, to me it personally feels “different”. It seems as if people are out at night to fulfill the “socializing” aspect of their lives.  It reminds me of the videogame the Sims. My thesis is to explore this “difference”, or the aspect which makes me feel this way.

As a way to find the answers to my questions, I will interview people who live in New York. How the people from different cultures perceive this subject? Do they feel lonely? Or are they simply too busy to even realize they’re lonely? Rather than being a break and an event to socialize and relax, eating seems to be a task that has to be done; it is the fuel to keep working.
            While researching about this subject, I came across an article called Urban Solitude and the Mobile Phone published in the Socialist Review by Mike Gonzalez. He is talking about how cell phones have become a way of people reminding themselves that they’re not lonely:

It's as if the mobile phone had turned us into people with a terrible fear of isolation and of silence. To reassure ourselves and others we have to find someone out there who will tell us that we're expected. If there's no one waiting for your call with bated breath then you're sad and lonely - a casualty of the instant society.

It all seems so fragile, as if we cease to be human if we are not spoken to. On the one hand, the advertisers tell us we are part of a community - that we can send a photo from a mobile that arrives instantly on the screen of a smiling friend's machine. On the other, the community is only virtually there, and disappears with the flick of a button. So what should be a public place - a station, an airport, a cafe, a shop - becomes instead a space filled by a hundred tiny private bubbles. We can speak to someone we know - and avoid eye contact or casual encounters with the people standing next to us.

What drew my attention in this article was the way he refers to public spaces consisting of private bubbles, and how public spaces have become private because of the way people treat the public space. It’s as if there are no people around them, people are all occupied with their own work.

With my research, I hope to get a better understanding of this urban environment, and what crosses the minds of people who are involved in it. Do they experience loneliness? Or are the technical tools for communication (i.e. instant messengers, emails, cell phones) enough for people to know that they are not alone?

Perhaps the fast paced world that we live in makes it inevitable for this lifestyle to occur. It is true that technology makes life very easy for us.  But how will the growth of technology continue affecting our lives?  We become more and more mechanical each day. Technology enables us to socialize even when we’re at home all alone. We can IM a friend that we haven’t seen for a while, or email someone and they will be informed right away. With technology improving at such a fast pace, we should be aware of the aspects that technology can’t provide to us: One on one conversations where you look the other person in the eye, talking with gestures and smiles.  It seems as though with the fast paced society, technology is becoming more and more the only way of communication rather than the easy way.

In my thesis, I will try to further explore these ways of communication and the concept of urban solitude, observing how people feel about the ways of communication that technology provides them. Is it enough to make them feel as if they’re not alone? How do people from other cultures perceive this “urban solitude”?

My thesis will eventually evolve to become a documentary seeking the answers to these questions. Hopefully, throughout the development of my thesis I will have a more thorough understanding of the concept of urban life, its fast paced environment, technology, and its inevitable effect on social and personal life.