Intimate relationships as our grandparents knew them, whether platonic, romantic or purely sexual, don’t work anymore. A quest for efficiency has powered society’s economic miracles since the Industrial Revolution, but the accelerated, relentless 20th-century streamlining of our lives also made us too busy for everyone but our nearest and dearest, and sometimes even for them. In recent decades, marriage rates in rich countries have plummeted; having grown up in a milieu of unhappy marriages, young people are increasingly saying “I This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Four Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 34 Break Free How to distinguish codependency from intimacy. Arts & Culture Issue 34 Know Yourself How to become acquainted with yourself more intimately. Arts & Culture Issue 34 Go the Distance How technology can touch long-distance relationships. Arts & Culture Issue 34 Talk Dirty How to open up about sexual desires. Arts & Culture Issue 34 Phone Home How to have better conversations with your parents. Arts & Culture Issue 51 Emily Gernild The Danish painter breathing new life into an old medium.
