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Social isolation may be the leading problem of our era.

• 89% of people used a cell phone during their last social interaction. 82% felt it degraded the conversation.
• 40% of Americans identify as lonely; up from 1 in 10 in the 1970s.
• One in four Am...

Recent decades are known for its fast fashion that adds to our overcrowded closets and landfills.

• Americans discard 85 percent of the clothing they buy - about 15 million tons of textile waste a year.
• The average lifetime of clothes is three years.

Victorians lived in houses that were overflowing with artsy items and other kinds of things. So clutter is not entirely an American notion, but modern Americans cultivate its presence in ways that set them apart.

Yes, past generations used to accumulate a lot of material things, bu...