News & Articles
Single Is a Fact. Still Single Is a Timetable.
The words we use to describe adult life still assume there's one path. I’m 47. I’ve never married and I don’t have children. People describe my life through what hasn't happened or hasn't happened yet. "Chloe’s still single". "She’s childless". I've used those words...
You Can See the Shape. You Can’t See the Colour
We can see somebody's life from the outside and still not know what it feels like to live it. A kaleidoscope is designed to be viewed by one person at a time. You hold it to your eye and see the unique pattern it has created: the shapes and colours falling together....
We Used to Look for People Our Age. Now We Look for People Like Us.
As our lives take different shapes, age tells us less about what we might have in common. When I was younger, almost all my friends were roughly my age. Now the people closest to me are nine and sixteen years younger than me. School puts you in a classroom with people...
Kaleidoscope Lives: Milestones vs. Life Turns
A milestone tells you something happened. A turn tells you something changed. I recently interviewed someone who told me about a recent family celebration. She, her boyfriend and her dog had all gone out for dinner together. They chose a restaurant with a...
What Are Kaleidoscope Lives? A New Way to See Adulthood
We're living through the end of comparable adulthood. Whenever we meet someone new, most of us default to the same old questions. “Do you have kids?” If the answer is yes, there are easy follow-ups: “How old are they?” “Boys or girls?” “Where do they go to school?”...
The Cost of Dating: Why Fewer Dates Means Fewer Babies
We Have More Ways to Date, and Fewer Ways to Meet Ordinary life has stopped producing relationships, so now governments, companies and AI are getting involved. When I moved to New York in 2008, it was the era of multi-dating. I’d never experienced anything like it...