Home sweet home: Americans find comfort in ‘nesting,’ but connecting is another matter

By Katy Attanasi (December 22, 2002)

Despite perilous times resulting from terrorism fears and economic doldrums, analysts say Americans are spending as if there is no tomorrow. Even with the anxiety, or perhaps because of it, Americans who have the means are turning their homes into well-stocked fortresses, complete with the latest home entertainment and food-service technical gadgetry.

But cultural observers say hanging around the home doesn’t necessarily bring the peace people are seeking, nor does it automatically draw family members closer. Trying to fill a void with material goods rather than spiritual answers will always leave a hole, they say.

“People need to remember that it’s not tomorrow that is frightening, it’s the story that people tell themselves about the unknown or about tomorrow that’s frightening,” says Ed Clarke, assistant sociology professor at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif. “Christ needs to dominate that story, instead of fear and trepidation.”

For many Americans, the life-changing pattern began in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks that heightened feelings of fear and uncertainty. When sniper attacks threatened the Washington, D.C., area for three weeks in October, a similar, more personal sense of vulnerability returned.

As a response to fear provoked by terrorist attacks and an increasingly harried pace of life, some experts are reporting a “nesting trend” — a cultural shift characterized by a growing appreciation for home and family.

According to a September American Demographics report, more people are finding comfort in their homes. Increased income portions are being spent on home furnishings, home accessories, home entertainment and gifts for relatives. The same report indicates that 78 percent of Americans say that family is more important to them since September 11.

A.J. Riedel, senior partner at the Phoenix research firm Riedel Marketing Group, says that post-9/11 fear is one factor that plays into this move toward increased investing in the home, which she predicts will continue. “It’s also a feeling that we’ve lost something in our fast and furious pace of life,” she says. “There’s so much information and our schedules are so hectic that we want a retreat, a sanctuary and a place to get away to, and that’s the home.”

Clarke disagrees that indicators of increased home investment show changes in American values, arguing that they should be credited to a declining economy and lucrative home refinancing options, which make it advantageous to invest in and stay at home.

Nonetheless, facets of the nesting trend deserve a closer look. Dr. Richard Dobbins, founder of EMERGE Ministries in Akron, Ohio, observes that though families could be spending more time at home they may not be drawing closer together. In fact, according to EMERGE Ministries, marriages have not been significantly stronger since September 11.

Instead, Dobbins notes a different trend. “What is observable is a marked increase in anxiety level, which motivates people to look for sources of security. People feel more secure at home than in public.”

The American Demographics findings concur. Nearly a quarter of Americans are fearful of familiar surroundings, and 11 percent of people are more distrustful of their neighbors than they were prior to the attacks. Similarly, people are much more vigilant and suspicious, and feel more vulnerable. “Things you wouldn’t normally attach danger to are looked at as though they may be dangerous,” Dobbins says. “Individual Americans are increasingly aware of the risk that may come to them beyond our national boundaries as well as within our national borders.”

It is this heightened sense of vulnerability that the Washington, D.C., area experienced in October as daily activities became associated with fatal shootings. Steve Brimmer, pastor of Fairfax (Va.) A/G located just outside the nation’s capital, suspects that the trauma of the sniper shootings will have a long-term effect. “In some ways, life has gone back to normal quickly, but on a psychological level, it has made an impact,” he says. “You tend to watch your back more. People are less secure and trusting. I don’t think life will go back to where it was.”

Brimmer says that the church can respond to these feelings of insecurity by being a community that conveys the message of security in the Lord and a place for meaningful relationships. “It’s a great opportunity if Christians will take time to build friendships and allow people to not only see Jesus in us, but find out why He gives us peace in the middle of difficult and dark days,” Brimmer says.

Dobbins agrees that the change may be permanent, and says there is also a growing awareness of the supernatural. “This provides a tremendous evangelistic opportunity as people tend to think of eternity and God more often and more seriously when they are frightened, as they are much more aware of the fragility of life and anxious about imminent death,” Dobbins says. “This automatically makes the subjects of eternity, God and Christ, much easier to talk about, even with people we don’t know.”