Maybe the article was advocating being barefoot in the home as much as possible? (And not that we should go around outside the home barefooted and risk cuts and bruises.) That’s what I do in any case, with some practical exceptions.
It depends on your foot.
I have achilles tendinitis, so my podiatrist has told me I really, really need to wear shoes all the time to help avoid aggravating it. The same advice goes for people with plantar fasciitis.
If you’re diabetic, you’ll also be advised to wear shoes all the time to avoid getting a small cut that could get infected without you knowing it.
Following my doctor’s advice has been really rough on me. I’m a Southern girl born and bred, and I always preferred to go barefoot whenever possible. And now that I’m wearing shoes all the time, I find that I’m prone to athlete’s foot, which never bothered me when I was shoeless most of the time I was at home.
I am diabetic, and around the house i go barefoot all the time, but I make it a regular habit to check my feet every evening for any damage. Only time I have any real trouble is when a callous decides it wants to start peeling off. I usually pumice it off gently to keep it from tearing.
When I was a baby and first tried to start walking, according to my parents, my feet were so flat that I was unable to stand up – it was close to being a mild case of club foot. I wore orthotics until I was about 7, and apparently they were able to mold the bones and such in my feet to the point that today, I have ordinary flat feet, and the very beginnings of an arch.
I don’t know about flat feet, but I like to go barefoot as much as I can, and my experience has been that walking on concrete for even a short distance can be rather painful and can leave my feet achy - so I definitely prefer to walk on grass when possible. I think the shock absorbers in our shoes help cushion the effects of the rather hard surfaces in the built environment.