One of the joys of living alone is that no one is around to stop you from doing the things you really want to do. You know, like yelling at the TV when Bachelor Ben says something sweet about Courtney or eating cottage cheese standing up in the kitchen in socks while you flip through the latest Vanity Fair. (Anyone? Just me?) With more Americans living alone today than ever before -- Eric Klinenberg, author of "Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone," told Smithsonian Magazine that 28 percent of Americans live alone, up from 10 percent in 1950 -- lots of people have been asking: Are we all getting just a tad stranger?
Steven Kurutz explored this question in The New York Times, noting:
What emerges over time, for those who live alone, is an at-home self that is markedly different -- in ways big and small -- from the self they present to the world. We all have private selves, of course, but people who live alone spend a good deal more time exploring them.
And the majority of people who live alone in the U.S. are women -- 17 million, compared with 14 million men, according to Klinenberg. In her piece for Slate, "Are Women Better At Living Alone?" Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow argued that women are better-equipped for this lifestyle because of their stronger social and networking abilities, which allow them to live alone while maintaining enriching friendships.
But the fact that women are more social yet still choose to maintain a living space just for themselves would seem to indicate a desire or need among women especially for a place to be alone. In other words, Virginia Woolf was right.
Over at Glamour, Anna Breslaw admits that being herself entails "Singing Ray Charles' 'You Don't Know Me' in the shower and pretending I'm Meryl Streep in 'Postcards From The Edge.'" If you live alone, what's your favorite thing to do when no one else is around? Tweet @HuffpostWomen with #WhyILiveAlone, and we'll include your reasons in a slideshow here.
SLIDESHOW: Why I Live Alone