Issue Date: April 7, 2002
The New Nesting
Big night on the town? Fuggedaboutit. More Americans are choosing to stay home, surrounded by family, friends and high-tech comforts.
Most of the flags have come down on our quiet street in Tucson, Ariz. You can see the unassuming, middle-class brick ranch houses more clearly than you could when, in the first flush of patriotism, anger and injury after Sept. 11, they were obscured by a curtain of red, white and blue.
Our street is only one little piece of America, of course. But as the nation moves further into uncertain times and patriotism becomes less a matter of flag waving and more of perseverance, the importance of the homes behind the flags has become clear to many Americans.
Since September, several national surveys have found an increased appreciation for both home and family. Ironically, we've been brought back to those twin pillars of civil society by a horrifically uncivilized act.
In reaction to the dizzying pace of our lives, we're feathering our nests with time-saving products that give us a sense of control and let us enjoy our homes and communities.
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An extensive study of post-attack attitudes by Context-Based Research Group, a consulting firm that gauges cultural shifts, found people are "going home" -- literally and symbolically. "It has to do with the whole concept of nesting," says Ellen Moore, an analyst with the company. "People are choosing things like having family dinners in rather than going out, and the reason is to get back to the core values."
In a survey by Yankelovich Partners, consultants specializing in lifestyle trends, almost three-fourths of the people interviewed said they were spending more time assessing what really works in their lives. A CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll found that the terrorist attack was a life-altering experience for one-third of Americans. More than half of those said they now spend more time with friends and family.
The temptation is to paint all this with the sepia glow of nostalgia, as if we were somehow transforming ourselves into the United States of the 1950s, a living Norman Rockwell painting of apple-cheeked children, aproned moms and newspaper-reading dads, all whiling away endless Sunday afternoons together.
But if we're returning to the nest, today's nest is a high-tech retreat with a seemingly endless array of products to help us enjoy that old-fashioned, snuggled-in feeling immediately.
The new nesting is likely to mean gathering around the big-screen television to watch a DVD while munching microwaved popcorn. Did someone spill some Diet Coke? No problem; there are three kinds of Handi Wipes in the kitchen. If it's a big spill, there's one of the hottest new household products: the Swiffer WetJet mop, which saves the trouble of bothering with a bucket or even wringing out the mop.
A.J. Riedel, senior partner at Riedel Marketing Group, a Phoenix firm specializing in housewares research, notes that sales of frozen pizza, frozen appetizers and ice cream all climbed after Sept 11. We may be gathering around for the family meal, but we're not going to spend hours preparing it.
And as we tend to our homes, some of us inevitably think big. Donna Myers, president of DHM Group, a public relations firm for several "outdoor lifestyle" companies, says the latest trend is adding "cocktail bars, dishwashers, ranges, compactors to your outdoor space," all to avoid the inconvenience of going back through the patio doors to the kitchen.
Indeed, many products designed to help us enjoy our new domesticity have an all-in-one, George-Jetson-in-a-hurry feel to them: combination waffle irons/ sandwich and pizza makers; lighted barbecue tools; talking photo albums. Even our exercises in nostalgia, such as chrome toasters and retro radios, are likely to have digital-age extras hidden behind the art deco design.
You can buy gardens that come pre-planted in a mat you simply cover and water, microwaves that download recipes from the Internet, and a video/fan remote control, which, according to promotional material, "operates all major brands of TVs, VCRs, DVDs and cable/ satellite systems, as well as provides the user with control of three fan speeds and full-range light dimming" -- pretty much freeing you of any reason to leave your easy chair, short of starvation.
A cynic could write all this off as examples of our country's obsessive materialism. But if we're reordering our priorities, it's somehow comforting that the studies show we remain Americans: in a rush, seeking convenience and looking for ways to do three things at once.
For most of us, life after Sept. 11 isn't a matter of grand purchases or dramatic changes, but of small choices. On my street, friends canceled a planned vacation after the attacks, but they're going ahead with an addition to their house in spite of the weak economy. Another neighbor is excited about his new CD/DVD player, not because it's the fanciest model, but because it led him to buy two Beatles CDs that were his favorites when he was young.
My family bought "Twenty-Minute Menus", a cookbook that promises special dinners in a little more time than it takes frozen pizza to heat and cool. We found that 20-minute menus actually take 40 minutes when you add a toddler and post-work exhaustion to the recipes, but the food itself is delicious and has added a greater sense of occasion to our meals.
I would guess that our purchase of "Twenty-Minute Menus" is not a bad example of the new nesting in action. We never thought about it at the time, but it represents a balancing of desires for both convenience and authenticity. We may have come home, America, but we haven't escaped the time squeeze that seems such a feature of modern existence.
The pollsters report that appreciation for home and family was growing, even before last fall's tragedy, as a reaction to the increasingly harried nature of life. (It also may be a sign that those of us in the baby boom finally have reached the age where satisfaction is more likely to come from curling up with a cup of instant cocoa than from painting the town.) But the terrorist attacks turned what was a budding trend into something more, crystallizing a shift in values for many.
It's not surprising. If home is where the heart is, then on Sept. 11 home was New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania for most Americans. The flags that went up everywhere, and the evening gatherings to light candles, were not expressions only of patriotism but of a renewed sense of community.
It's almost inevitable that out of this would arise a keener appreciation of our own homes, families and friends. We have been painfully reminded of what we always knew in our hearts.
It isn't all that important whether you're the type who expresses that feeling by investing in an elaborate outdoor kitchen or the type who simply makes sure the whole family gathers 'round the dinner table more often for takeout pizza. Because we're Americans, an array of products will be offered to help us feather our nests. They're just things -- some useful, some silly. They are not who we are.
What matters is what we do with them -- and now, more than ever, we plan to share them with friends and family, which always has been how you make a house a home.
Reed Karaim, the author of the novel "If Men Were Angels", writes frequently on cultural trends.
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