The loneliness economy

Economic outcomes of a shrinking number of relationships in modern life

- PUJA MEHRA

Ever heard of Olivia Benson? Or Sadie,

Sunny, Lauren, Layla and Luke? Olivia Benson is one of the world's wealthiest cats. This Scottish Fold kitty made its bucks, estimated at about $100 million, doing cameos in music videos of pop star Taylor Swift, its human parent. Sadie, Sunny, Lauren, Layla and Luke are retrievers and spaniels. "Dogs? What dogs? These are my fur children... They are my definition of unconditional love. They're family!" says Oprah Winfrey in a post on her website. The pets have a share in the celebrity's personal wealth.

One of the many downsides of modern life is the ever-increasing reluctance to invest in relationships. Couples are remaining childless. Likeable women are wary of marrying. Eligible bachelors are preferring to stay single. Elderly parents are being checked into old-age homes instead of being looked after at home. People hardly get to know their first cousins well, leave alone more distant relatives. There's excessive unhealthy perhaps? - focus on independence, material and career goals, inability or unwillingness to accommodate others. Putting others before oneself is a thing of the past; many see it as foolish. Empathy is seen as a weakness. Among the urban, the whole notion of family is breaking down or changing altogether.

The trends are already picking up. Cats, dogs, birds, fish and a variety of animals that can be domesticated as pets, including reptiles in some countries, although I have yet to see this in India, are substituting for family. People who won't adopt a human baby for the fear of getting too emotionally invested and becoming vulnerable are happy to become a cat mother and a dog parent.