A cause to carouse

This week's message is a simple one: don't forget to party.\nNow, I know that asserting the importance of partying is hardly necessary for many of those reading this paper -- after all, IU was the Princeton Review's number-six party school for 2006. But this column is not meant for those who start every Saturday stuck to a different floor, or last spring break's reigning wet T-shirt contest winner, or the rest of the hedonists bent on turning their five-year educations (four, plus "victory lap") into an extraordinarily expensive bacchanalia. Such folks should, of course, do quite the opposite. \nNo, this is meant for those like yours truly -- introverts, geeks, wallflowers, grad students who always claim they're too busy -- and, to a lesser extent, those visiting parents whose worries that little Timmy or Tina might turn into a drunken toga-monster, in turn, lead them to demand that their students maintain a lifestyle sure to bore even Zen monks (note: this tends to backfire). Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm not advocating binge drinking, drug use or hooking up with random strangers -- partying doesn't have to mean dangerous partying. I'm merely suggesting that those of us for whom mixing does not come naturally need, nevertheless, to make the effort to go out and have fun with our fellow human beings (and if the "antisocial scientist" is making the effort, you have no excuse).\nI can feel your eyes rolling -- "c'mon, who 'forgets to party,'" you ask? And, yet, a recent study in the American Sociological Review reports that social ties among Americans appear to be breaking down. Using data from the General Social Survey to compare 2004 responses about individuals' number and type of confidants to 1985 responses; Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin and Matthew Brashears found that "A quarter of Americans say they have no one with whom they can discuss personal troubles, more than double the number who were similarly isolated in 1985. Overall, the number of people Americans have in their closest circle of confidants has dropped from around three to about two" (Washington Post, June 23). This supports the conclusions of political scientist, Robert Putnam -- who, in his book "Bowling Alone," claimed that American society is becoming increasingly atomized. In other words, people are spending more time doing activities alone, rather than with family, neighbors, civic groups or clubs (such as bowling teams). \nAmong the culprits blamed for this trend are television, commutes and long work hours -- but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that those of us who tend to isolate ourselves here in the university environment, risk carrying this tendency through life. It's so easy to cocoon ourselves in entertainment technology, and long-distance Web interactions and, occasionally, schoolwork -- we can miss out on actually living.\nLast Monday, the Indiana Daily Student reported that Indiana Memorial Union's bowling alley is in disrepair. Coincidence? \nProbably -- but go out and party, \nanyway.