About a Boy 2

The main character in About a Boy says that every man is an island, and that the modern age is the time to be an island. Examining the second part of the statement, is the modern age really the best time to be an island? In a sense it is, because technology has made everything about life easier. There are things anyone can buy that would make leaving the home largely unnecessary, for instance, refrigerators ensure that one would have to leave less, televisions can provide entertainment that does not make one leave the home, microwaves, ovens, stoves make cooking easy. There are not a whole lot of things that one cannot accomplish inside the home just as easily as one could outside the home. In a sense it is not, because it is harder to find places in the world where one might remain undisturbed or that it may be legal for one to simply live off the land. If one does not leave one’s home, one cannot exist alone without relying on the ingenuity of others and the technology they create. To exist alone using the technology afforded to one through connects to society, is one truly alone? It is easier to avoid excessive contact with other human beings if one chooses to live within the cities, but it is harder to actually attain a completely independent existence in the wilderness, mostly because mankind has destroyed so much of it.