Author Diana Lind opens by mapping three historical phases of American residential behavior: the 1980s gated community boom as middle and upper-class flight from cities, the early 2000s urban renaissance driven by desire for experience and exposure, and the current return toward isolation. She argues that the new withdrawal is not about physical gates or specific suburbs but about using technology and changed preferences to construct an invisible enclosure around the home. Remote workers in Canada now spend 80% of their time at their primary residence, with the increase extending to leisure time rather than just work hours. Lind pivots to food as a key indicator of the trend, citing a New York Times article about personal chefs in the Hamptons whose clients describe restaurants as nightmares and food shopping as something to be avoided. She notes that while personal chefs are a wealth-specific behavior, food delivery apps like DoorDash and GoPuff — which Philadelphia helped create — have democratized the retreat. DoorDash data from 2023 shows households earning under $75,000 spent $31 per order, compared to $39 for those earning more, and lower-income customers were more likely to exceed $1,000 in annual spending on delivery. She argues the premium being paid is not for better food but for avoiding social contact. Lind distinguishes her argument from standard urban decline debates: city governments can improve services, housing affordability, and transit, but these tools cannot address a cultural withdrawal from public life driven by declining tolerance for inconvenience and contact with strangers. She writes that no rezoning fixes the social moat around houses and no transit investment bridges that withdrawal. The essay concludes by contrasting the old gated community model — keeping city problems out through physical barriers and suburban geography — with the new model, which uses technology and shifting social norms to achieve the same isolation anywhere, including in cities themselves. Lind mentions she is writing a book about this transition from public life to home-centered life.
