Hi Nora,
I am just listening to the podcast of your latest show, the one about the end of solitude. Listening to it made me think that you are living in the wrong place. I live in Victoria, and out here on the coast things move more slowly. People have more time to be alone. I know a lot of people, including myself, who don't have cellphones, let alone blackberries, and who spend hours of their day walking along the shore thinking their thoughts, or curled up reading a book (yes, Victoria is full of writers too--so maybe that has something to do with it) . Is never being alone partly a result of where we live? I would be interested to know if people in rural areas feel they have more "alone time" than people in cities do.