Cocooning (behaviour)

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Cocooning is staying inside one's home, insulated from perceived danger, instead of going out. [1] [2] [3] The term was coined in 1981 by Faith Popcorn, a trend forecaster and marketing consultant. [4] It is used in social science, [5] [6] marketing, [7] parenting, [8] [9] economic forecasting, [10] self-help, [11] religion, [12] and has become part of standard English as defined by multiple dictionaries.

Contents

History

Evidence of intensifying home-focused behavior became more pronounced in Popcorn's data from 1984, and by 1985 she forecast it would be a trend, not a fad. [13] She explained the concept involves building a "shell of safety" around oneself in a 1986 article in The New Yorker . [14]

In 1987, The Washington Post columnist George Will explained that "the harassments of daily life -- looming nuclear incineration, rude waiters -- have driven people to ''cocooning''. They have gone to ground in their dens with their VCRs and compact-disc players, snug in their Barcaloungers equipped with stereo headphones, the better to keep at bay the modern world, the discontinuities of which have produced a longing for tradition." [15]

A Los Angeles Times article in 1987 called "The Essence of Cocooning: It's a Desire for a Cozy, Perfect Environment Far From the Influences of a Madding World" tied the concept to fear of environmental destruction. [13] In the article, Popcorn cited the increased use of gourmet frozen foods, soft furniture such as Barcaloungers, investment services, and "mom foods" that remind consumers of adolescence, as examples of cocooning behavior. She cited less involvement in social and political issues as a downside of cocooning, though she predicted a counter-trend to emerge.

The term was designated in 1987 by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as a word being tracked for possible inclusion in the dictionary. The dictionary's editors later included it, [2] as did Merriam Webster's Dictionary. [1]

A 1989 article in The New York Times called "Lounge Wear for Cocooning" described a trend among many upscale designers, including Ralph Lauren, Bob Mackie, Giorgio Armani and Valentino, to create clothing for use at home that was more dressy than sleepwear but less formal than sportswear. [7] "However, sleeping is not the point. Neither, necessarily, is seduction. Cocooning, a dream word for market researchers, is. Everybody is working. Everybody is tired. Everybody just wants to go home and watch 48-inch TV. Relax, slip into something comfortable, and join the ranks of homebody chic," the article says.

In its 1996 "Year in Review" article, Time cited cocooning as a major social trend and linked it to Bowling Alone , a 1995 essay by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam, describing a decrease in in-person social intercourse. [16]

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the Chicago Tribune ran an article entitled "The 'cocooning' trend draws reinforcement" which asserted that the terrorist attacks intensified cocooning. [17]

A study by sociologists at the University of Toronto in 2004 concluded that Canadians were socializing less with their friends and family and spending more time "cocooning" home alone. The change was attributed to "higher rates of separation and divorce, smaller households with fewer children, delayed marriages and more individuals living alone." [18]

In 2013, a USA Today article entitled "Cocooning: It's back and thanks to tech, it's bigger" concluded that cocooning had turned into "super-cocooning": "Thanks to always-on wireless Internet connectivity and bigger, better TVs that reproduce pixel-perfect high-definition video, cocooning is entering a new evolutionary stage. Consumers are staying home more, watching movies delivered via cable, satellite, Internet or disc, eating in and transforming their apartments and houses into a shelter from the daily social storm." [4]

In Fortune in 2015, Popcorn said "uber-cocooning, and now even bunkering" were becoming prominent because people had become "terrified" of world conditions. [19]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, "cocooning" has been the term used by the Health Service Executive and other official bodies when advising precautionary self-isolation by those aged over 70 or in other high-risk groups. [20] In the UK, the term "shielding" is more frequently used. The UK government has advised people who are "clinically extremely vulnerable" to "stay at home as much as possible and keep interactions outside to a minimum. This is called 'shielding'." [21]

Child rearing and adoption cocooning

A 2014 clinical book for mental health practitioners, lawyers and educators describes the parental strategy of cocooning (or "restrictive mediation") as explicitly limiting objectionable material, including from television and the movies, from younger children. When the same practice is used with older adolescents, it was determined parents were less connected to their children, more likely to be resented and less successful in maintaining control in the long term. [8]

In The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia, its authors contend that adoptive parents have "popularized" cocooning as "a strategic way in which to create a safe and secure home in which to raise a newly adopted child." [5] The psychologist Patti Zordich trademarked "cocooning" as the focus of the resources she provides to adoptive families. [5]

Standard cocooning tactics for adoptive parents include retreating from the outside world to focus on the immediate family in order to build bonds that will secure attachment with the child. [9] [22]

Digital cocooning

A 1994 article in PC Magazine described "virtual cocooning" in terms of virtual reality products for exploring and designing one's own interiors or world. [23]

In South Korea, experts who saw the rise of "digital cocooning" in 2006 said that while some people were experiencing a nomadic outdoor life thanks to wireless devices, others were choosing to stay "nested up at home" with them. [24] [25] People who almost never left home because of the internet were characterized as "digital zombies." [24]

Digital cocooning was the subject of a 2014 panel discussion about "isolating elements of pervasive mobile technology." [26]

A 2014 report by Euromonitor International, a strategic market research firm, contends that "A major consequence of the growth in mobile web use is that the trend towards cocooning – the home-centred lifestyle that characterised the early part of the century – has given way to a movement towards mobile or individual cocooning, whereby consumers are immersed in their own digital worlds anywhere and anytime." [27]

Tele-Cocooning is a term developed by Ichiyo Habuchi in 2005 to describe intimate human computer interaction, specifically in reference to "the communication of one person to the next without having physical interaction with that person". [28]

In 2014, an academic study of Japanese youth supported the "tele-cocooning hypothesis", which contends that mobile "texting is associated with increasingly insular communication because it strengthens core ties at the expense of interactions with lesser-known weak ties." The study says that research from many sources showed that texting among youth usually involves "the intensive exchange of text messages among intimate and homogeneous peers." This decreases social tolerance and trust. [6]

A 2015 follow up study concluded that tele-cocooning behavior could be mitigated with smartphone applications stimulating interaction with weak ties through on-screen reminders. [29]

Books

The Popcorn Report

In her 1991 book, The Popcorn Report, Popcorn describes cocooning as: "the impulse to go inside when it just gets too tough and scary outside. To pull a shell of safety around yourself, so you're not at the mercy of a mean, unpredictable world - those harassments and assaults that run the gamut from rude waiters and noise pollution to crack-crime, recession and AIDS. Cocooning is about insulation and avoidance, peace and protection, coziness and control-a sort of hyper-nesting." [30]

In the 1991 book, Popcorn argues that since she had defined the trend it had been substantiated by subsequent skyrocketing VCR sales; declining restaurant sales just as take out restaurant sales substantially grew; the emergence of "shelter" magazines; screening calls; and the increase in birth rates. [30]

Popcorn described three sub-trends within cocooning: the armored cocoon, the wandering cocoon, and the socialized cocoon.

Armored cocoon

Indicators of the "armored cocoon" included greater gun ownership among women, and the growth in "paranoia" industries. These include home security systems, computerized watchdog systems linked to private guards and emergency help, anti-snooping devices, home warehousing of supplies and home delivery of food and other supplies to "stock the cocoon." [30]

Wandering cocoon

The "wandering cocoon" is characterized by controlling one's environment when outside the home, such as car and mini-van design intended to make automobiles more pleasurable and livable. Signs of the "mobile cocoon" included people eating more meals in their cars; conducting business and "life maintenance chores" over the phone while driving; and the increase in airline security. [30]

Socialized cocoon

The "socialized cocoon" is characterized by surrounding oneself with "soothing, congenial" friends in one's "home cocoon." Rather than entertaining at home as in the past, the socialized cocoon is characterized by selective invitations to a few close friends. Signs included a surge in book clubs, watching television with friends. The 1991 trend was described as "nascent." [30]

Other books

In her 1997 book, Clicking: 17 Trends That Drive Your Business--And Your Life, Popcorn asserted that the cocooning trend would give rise to 24-hour, comprehensive home banking. [31]

William A. Sherden, in his 1999 book The Fortune Sellers: The Big Business of Buying and Selling Predictions, takes a skeptical view of Popcorn's ideas about cocooning and concludes she was wrong on several issues. [32] Sherden's statistics show double digit percentage growth in activities outside the home in the five years following her prediction. [32]

In 2003, in the Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World, authors David Levinson and Karen Christensen note that cocooning has intensified with the growth of the internet because people can stay at home for weeks at a time without losing touch with friends, getting food to eat, working or watching recent movies. [33] The authors cite the growth of home entertainment as a significant factor in cocooning, with people treating large casts of fictional characters as a "surrogate community." While they saw no evidence of people entertaining at home more, in the wake of September 11, they said that people traveled less, stayed closer to home and spent more time with their families. [33]

A German economics book in 2009 titled Cocooning: My Home is My Castle asserted that in times of crisis people prefer to "hedgehog" at home and forecast good commercial prospects for chocolate, snacks, ready-made-meals and home furniture. [10]

A self-help book from 2010, The One Year Book of Inspiration for Girlfriends, advocates cocooning as a form of religious retreat. [12]

In 2014, authors Marilyn Coleman and Lawrence Ganong tie cocooning to the trend for larger homes. Rather than using amenities like public pools, parks and movie theaters, and participate in community activities like church and school functions, the authors contended that more people were retreating to large homes designed as a safe and pleasant refuge. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well as the inanimate physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community</span> Social unit which shares commonality

A community is a social unit with commonality such as place, norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area or in virtual space through communication platforms. Durable good relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties also define a sense of community, important to their identity, practice, and roles in social institutions such as family, home, work, government, TV network, society, or humanity at large. Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties, "community" may also refer to large group affiliations such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.

Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialization</span> Lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies

In sociology, socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained".

A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communities are online communities operating under social networking services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet culture</span> Culture that has emerged from the use of computer networks

Internet culture is a quasi-underground culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet who primarily communicate with one another online as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence is "mediated by computer screens" and Information Communication Technology, specifically the Internet.

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it. Video game gameplay is distinct from graphics and audio elements. In card games, the equivalent term is play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avatar (computing)</span> Graphical representation of a user or a users alter ego or character

In computing, an avatar is a graphical representation of a user or the user's character or persona. Avatars can be two-dimensional icons in Internet forums and other online communities, where they are also known as profile pictures, userpics, or formerly picons. Alternatively, an avatar can take the form of a three-dimensional model, as used in online worlds and video games, or an imaginary character with no graphical appearance, as in text-based games or worlds such as MUDs.

The social web is a set of social relations that link people through the World Wide Web. The social web encompasses how websites and software are designed and developed in order to support and foster social interaction. These online social interactions form the basis of much online activity including online shopping, education, gaming and social networking services. The social aspect of Web 2.0 communication has been to facilitate interaction between people with similar tastes. These tastes vary depending on who the target audience is, and what they are looking for. For individuals working in the public relation department, the job is consistently changing and the impact is coming from the social web. The influence held by the social network is large and ever changing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information and communications technology</span> Extensional term for information technology

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate information.

A social networking service or SNS is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.

Video game culture or gaming culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video game hobbyists. As video games have exponentially increased in sophistication, accessibility and popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture, particularly among middle-class adolescents and young adults. Video game culture has also evolved with Internet culture and the increasing popularity of mobile games.

Digital literacy is an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information by utilizing typing or digital media platforms. It is a combination of both technical and cognitive abilities in using information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and share information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third place</span> Sociological concept

In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. Examples of third places include churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries, gyms, bookstores, stoops and parks. In his book The Great Good Place (1989), Ray Oldenburg argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media</span> Virtual online communities

Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:

  1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
  2. User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media.
  3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
  4. Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

Faith Popcorn is a futurist, author, and founder and CEO of marketing consulting firm BrainReserve. She has written three best selling books:The Popcorn Report (1991), Clicking (1996), and EVEolution (2000).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital marketing</span> Marketing of products or services using digital technologies or digital tools

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Adam Hanft is an American brand strategist who also writes and speaks on business and cultural trends for a variety of print, television and online media. His blog SpinSeason.com, which analyzes politics in a cultural context, is a partner blog of Salon.com. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of New York University's College of Arts and Sciences, Hanft serves on the Board of Directors of Scotts Miracle-Gro, the world's largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products. He is also a strategic adviser to Conduit, Israel's largest Internet company, LaunchBox digital, an early stage venture capital firm; to Luminoso, a text analytics firm that was incubated in the MIT Media Lab; and to Keas, a provider of wellness solutions using game mechanics.

Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media, reading books and magazines, watching television and film, and listening to radio. An active media consumer must have the capacity for skepticism, judgement, free thinking, questioning, and understanding.Media consumption is to maximize the interests of consumers.

Virtue signaling is the expression of a conspicuous, self-righteous moral viewpoint with the intent of communicating good character.

References

  1. 1 2 "Cocooning". Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam Webster Di.ctionary.
  2. 1 2 Company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. "The American Heritage Dictionary entry: cocooning". ahdictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  3. ↑ "cocoon: definition of cocoon in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)". www.oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.[ dead link ]
  4. 1 2 Snider, Mike (18 February 2013). "Cocooning: It's back and thanks to tech, it's bigger". USA Today. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Coleman, Marilyn J.; Ganong, Lawrence H. (2014-09-02). The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. ISBN   9781483370422.
  6. 1 2 Kobayashi, Tetsuro; Boase, Jeffrey (2014-04-01). "Tele-Cocooning: Mobile Texting and Social Scope". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 19 (3): 681–694. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12064 . ISSN   1083-6101.
  7. 1 2 Hochswender, Woody (1989-01-03). "Lounge Wear for Cocooning". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  8. 1 2 Saleh, Fabian; Grudzinskas, Albert Jr.; Judge, Abigail (2014-04-28). Adolescent Sexual Behavior in the Digital Age: Considerations for Clinicians, Legal Professionals and Educators. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199357970.
  9. 1 2 Player, Corrie Lynn; Sember, Brette McWhorter (2008-08-17). The Everything Parent's Guide to Raising Your Adopted Child: A complete handbook to welcoming your adopted child into your heart and home. Everything Books. ISBN   978-1605507989.
  10. 1 2 Reil, H. (2009-03-02). Cocooning: My Home is my Castle (in German). GBI Genios Wirtschaftsdatenbank GmbH. ISBN   9783737907613.
  11. ↑ Holden, Robert (2008-05-01). Success Intelligence . Hay House, Inc. p.  143. ISBN   9781401922092. cocooning.
  12. 1 2 Miller, Ellen (2010-10-05). The One Year Book of Inspiration for Girlfriends: Juggling Not-So-Perfect, Often-Crazy, but Gloriously Real Lives. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ISBN   9781414337937.
  13. 1 2 Krier, Beth Ann (1987-08-07). "The Essence of Cocooning: It's a Desire for a Cozy, Perfect Environment Far From the Influences of a Madding World". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  14. ↑ "Eager". The New Yorker. 30 June 1986. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  15. ↑ "Of Consuming Interest". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  16. ↑ Rosenblatt, Roger (1996-12-30). "To Be Or Not To Be...Whatever". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  17. ↑ "The 'cocooning' trend draws reinforcement" . Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  18. ↑ "People cocooning more, study says". The Globe and Mail. 25 June 2004. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  19. ↑ "Here's What Top Trend Spotter Faith Popcorn Sees for 2016". Fortune. 2015-12-30. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  20. ↑ O'Donnell, Orla (28 March 2020). "Explainer: What is cocooning, and who needs to do it?". RTÉ News . Retrieved 19 June 2020.; "Cocooning during COVID-19". Dublin: Citizens Information Service. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  21. ↑ Public Health England, Guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19, updated 14 July 2020, accessed 28 July 2020
  22. ↑ Johnston, Patricia Irwin (2012-04-15). Adoption Is a Family Affair!: What Relatives and Friends Must Know, Revised Edition. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN   9780857006196.
  23. ↑ Inc, Ziff Davis (1994-01-11). PC Mag. Ziff Davis, Inc.{{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  24. 1 2 "More people living in digital cocoons". web.international.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  25. ↑ Fien, John; Maclean, Rupert; Park, Man-Gon (2008-10-26). Work, Learning and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9781402081941.
  26. ↑ "QuickPanel: Digital Cocooning | UX Magazine". uxmag.com. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  27. ↑ "Mobile Cocooning: How Growing Reliance on Smart Devices is Influencing Consumer Behaviour". www.euromonitor.com. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  28. ↑ Ichiyo Habuchi, “Accelerating Reflexivity,” in Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life, ed. Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Misa Matsuda (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005).
  29. ↑ Kobayashi, Tetsuro; Boase, Jeffrey; Suzuki, Tsutomu; Suzuki, Takahisa (2015-05-01). "Emerging From the Cocoon? Revisiting the Tele-Cocooning Hypothesis in the Smartphone Era". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 20 (3): 330–345. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12116 . ISSN   1083-6101.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 Popcorn, Faith (1992-10-13). The Popcorn Report: Faith Popcorn on the Future of Your Company, Your World, Your Life . Harper Collins. ISBN   9780887305948. faith%20popcorn%20popcorn%20report.
  31. ↑ Popcorn, Faith; Marigold, Lys (1998-01-06). Clicking: 17 Trends That Drive Your Business--And Your Life . Harper Collins. ISBN   9780887308574. clicking%20faith%20popcorn%20cocooning.
  32. 1 2 Sherden, William A. (1999). The Fortune Sellers: The Big Business of Buying and Selling Predictions. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 223. ISBN   978-0-471-35844-2.
  33. 1 2 Levinson, David; Christensen, Karen (2003-06-30). Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. SAGE Publications. ISBN   9780761925989.
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