COCOONING

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) In the US, the practice of nurturing one's family life by spending leisure time in the home with one's family; the valuing of family life and privacy above social contact and advancement. Also as a verb cocoon and an agent noun cocooner. Etymology: This specialized sense derives from the idea of a cocoon as a protective layer or shell: Americans are seen as deliberately retreating from the stressful conditions of life outside the home into the cosy private world of the family. Towards the end of the seventies in his book Manwatching, the anthropologist Desmond Morris had observed a similar protective device among people who live or work in crowded places where privacy is difficult to achieve: Flatmates, students sharing a study, sailors in the cramped quarters of a ship, and office staff in crowded workplaces, all have to face this problem. They solve it by 'cocooning'. They use a variety of devices to shut themselves off from the others present. Cocooning can be seen as one step on from the nesting which is characteristic of new parents. History and Usage: The word was apparently coined by Faith Popcorn--a New York trend analyst--in 1986, after analysis of socio-economic trends had shown that people in the US were going out and travelling less, ordering more takeout food to eat at home, doing more of their shopping from catalogues rather than in person, and showing more interest in traditional pastimes (such as craft work) which could be done at home. Within a few years this had had a significant commercial effect in the US--but it remains to be seen whether the trend will be limited to affluent Americans. Cocooning is seen by some as an up-market way of saying 'being a couch potato'. We are benefitting from 'cocooning'. Everyone wants to spend more time at home with family. Crafts like cross-stitching and fabrics for children and home decorating have experienced tremendous growth. Fortune 30 July 1990, p. 132 You could be...what Americans call a 'cocooner'--a rich yuppie who escapes the violence of society by shutting himself up with his designer wife and baby behind a screen of security alarms. Sunday Express 16 Sept. 1990, p. 25