The Unexpected Pleasure of Doing Things Alone

By Joe Pinsker

你會(huì)享受一個(gè)人在餐廳用餐的時(shí)光嗎？還是寧可躲在家里吃泡面，也不想一個(gè)人孤零零地坐在餐廳，被人誤會(huì)沒有朋友？?jī)赡昵?，荷蘭新開了一家名為Eenmaal的概念餐廳，專為獨(dú)自用餐的顧客準(zhǔn)備了“單人餐桌”，旨在讓人們學(xué)會(huì)享受獨(dú)處帶來的愉悅感。無論是一個(gè)人聽場(chǎng)演唱會(huì)，參觀美術(shù)館，還是去咖啡廳坐坐……可能你會(huì)把它想得很糟，但結(jié)果也許還不賴哦。

Two years ago, a Dutch creative agency opened a concept restaurant in Amsterdam that would be, in the words of its founder, “the perfect place to dine in pleasant solitude1. solitude: 獨(dú)處。.” The restaurant is called Eenmaal—this name has been translated into English as “dinner for one”—and was launched in an attempt to start dissolving the stigma attached to going out alone.2. dissolve: 消除，使消失；stigma: 污名。Apparently picking up on the same cultural drift, a new fast-casual restaurant in Washington, D.C., has tiered, bench-like seating with individual trays, an arrangement that caters to solo diners.3. 美國(guó)華盛頓一家新開的休閑快餐店顯然也注意到了這個(gè)文化風(fēng)潮，店里有一排排像工作臺(tái)一樣的座位，上面擺放著單人餐盤，這種布局正是為了招待那些單獨(dú)用餐的人。pick up on: 〈美口〉注意到，了解到；drift: 動(dòng)向，趨勢(shì)；tiered:成排的；bench: 工作臺(tái)；tray: 碟子，托盤；cater to: 迎合，滿足……的需要。

As antisocial as those ideas may sound, it’s surprising that the world hasn’t seen more of them. Today, more than a quarter of American households are home to just one person—a figure that has tripled4. triple: 使成三倍。since 1970. Also, the median age5. median age: 中位年齡，指將所有人按年齡大小排列后，位于中點(diǎn)的年齡。at which Americans get married has recently reached a record high. Given these demographic shifts, one would think that by now, going out to the movies or to dinner alone wouldn’t be the radical acts they still are.6. demographic: 人口統(tǒng)計(jì)的；radical: 極端的，過激的。

A study in theJournal of Consumer Researchgets at why most people are so reluctant7. reluctant: 不情愿的。to leave home and do fun things on their own. In a series of experiments, the University of Maryland’s Rebecca Ratner and Georgetown’s Rebecca Hamilton demonstrated that when it comes to going to the movies or to dinner, individuals consistently think they won’t enjoy themselves as much if they aren’t going with any of their friends.“People decide to not do things all the time just because they’re alone,” Ratner toldThe Washington Post. “But the thing is, they would probably be happier going out and doing something.”

Some of Ratner and Hamilton’s experiments had subjects trying to imagine themselves in certain situations—running errands8. run errands: 辦差事，跑腿。, watching movies at home, going out to dinner—alone or with others, and forecasting how much they’d enjoy doing them. But the experiment that is the most telling compared subjects’ predictions to how the experiences actually played out.9. 但實(shí)驗(yàn)最重要的一項(xiàng)是將實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象的預(yù)想和實(shí)驗(yàn)的真實(shí)結(jié)果進(jìn)行對(duì)比。telling: 重要的，有影響的；prediction: 預(yù)測(cè)；play out: 完成，結(jié)束。The researchers stopped 86 passers-by in a college’s student union—some of them recruited while walking alone,others in a group—and asked them to stroll through a nearby art gallery,10. recruit: 吸收，招收；stroll: 閑逛；art gallery: 美術(shù)館，畫廊。but only after they’d predicted how much they’d enjoy it. Comparing those results to surveys after the trip,the researchers found that the solo gallery-goers predicted lower levels of enjoyment, even though they ended up enjoying the experience about as much as those who went with company.

The researchers determined that the main reason people didn’t think they’d enjoy themselves is that they were afraid other people would think they didn’t have any friends. (That effect was only present for public activities—watching a movie on the couch wasn’t considered less appealing when done alone, but going to a theater was.)

Another experiment revealed the irrationality at the core of this fear.11. reveal: 揭示；irrationality: 不合理。The researchers found that individuals assume the judgments they receive for being alone are going to be much harsher than those they’d pass on others in the same situation.12. 研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)于獨(dú)自一人（這種情況），人們預(yù)想可能會(huì)得到的評(píng)價(jià)比他們實(shí)際上給別人的評(píng)價(jià)要難聽得多。harsh: （聲音）刺耳的，難聽的；pass on: 對(duì)……做出鑒定。They thought they’d be seen as unusual, antisocial, and strange for going somewhere without friends, but said they wouldn’t attach these labels as strongly to someone they witnessed, say, sitting alone at a movie theater.13. attach a label to sb.: 認(rèn)為某人具有某種特點(diǎn)；say: 例如。

Ratner and Hamilton also ran some experiments to see how they might be able to nudge14. nudge: 推進(jìn)，刺激。people to go out by themselves. They realized that there wasn’t the same mental block15. mental block: 心理阻隔，心理障礙。against going to the grocery store alone, and theorized that this was because shopping represented getting something done. Sure enough, subjects who pondered16. ponder: 仔細(xì)考慮，默想。going to a coffee shop on their own thought it sounded more enjoyable when they were told they had reading material and could be productive than when they were going simply to enjoy a drink. Getting people to think of an experience as an accomplishment might make them more likely to do it without a friend’s company. The researchers’ other advice to marketers was to try and revise social norms by, for example, designating sections at concerts for music lovers who are there alone, or building communal tables for individual diners at restaurants.17. 研究人員還建議那些營(yíng)銷商嘗試改變以往的社會(huì)規(guī)范，例如為單獨(dú)前往演唱會(huì)的音樂愛好者們安排一些區(qū)域，或是為在餐廳里單獨(dú)用餐的人搭建公共餐桌。revise: 修正；social norm: 社會(huì)規(guī)范；designate: 指定，標(biāo)明；communal: 公共的。

The next step in revising the way solo activities are thought of, though,is about how present people are when they do them: In the absence of fellow diners, many of the customers at Eenmaal, the blog Food Republic18. Food Republic: 大食代，是新加坡Bread Talk集團(tuán)旗下的知名美食廣場(chǎng)品牌。reported, ended up staring at their phones anyway. These days, when a phone is never farther than an arm’s length away, “alone” just doesn’t mean when it used to.