Americans of All Ages Are Spending Less Time Socializing
4 47Americans now spend an average of 35 minutes a day socializing, down from 45 minutes two decades ago, according to American Time Use Survey data. The decline spans all age groups but is sharpest among 15- to 24-year-olds, whose daily socializing has fallen from about an hour to 35 minutes. Axios reports: Sociologists and psychologists point to several trends driving this phenomenon, which Substack writer Derek Thompson dubbed "The Anti-Social Century" in the Atlantic last year. We're all on our smartphones, often interacting through screens instead of face to face -- even though social media is no substitute for spending time together in person.
Teens, in particular, spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, according to Gallup. The shift to remote work -- and life -- during the pandemic has persisted, keeping more of us homebound. Longer-term trends are reshaping daily life in ways that make isolation easier. Homes are bigger and more comfortable, with larger TVs. Virtually every restaurant is on a food delivery app, making it easier than ever to stay in.
Also contributing to the trend is the decline of gathering spaces, Axios' Avery Lotz writes. A 2025 report from CU Boulder researchers uncovered widespread closures of all kinds of hangout spots -- from libraries to coffee shops to museums -- in the last decade or so. Churches are also shuttering at unprecedented rates, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.
4 comments
Looking at it the other way. (Score: 5, Interesting)
by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Monday July 06, 2026 @12:23PM (#66225118)
Look at this from the opposite direction. How much excess socializing was done in the past because people didn't have anything else or didn't own a personal time-occupying device that didn't require sharing?
All this shows is that when given the choice, people choose their own interests over shared socialization. If previous generations had phones and tablets they wouldn't have talked to their uncle about mundane shit on Thanksgiving either. I don't think people have changed all that much, we just have more options now and this is identifying our actual preferences.
Re:Looking at it the other way. (Score: 5, Interesting)
by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Monday July 06, 2026 @01:50PM (#66225314)
Maybe...
However the previous generation certainly could have a novel in their back pocket, a magazine, a comic book, flipped the radio on, etc. It is not like Apple invented personal entertainment in 2007.
Something IS different about they way interact with smart phone and related technologies. Centuries, of anthropological study says humans are social animals. It is hard just go whoops they must have all been wrong, turns out we just did not have good enough portable video games and mobiles, and people just spent time together because they hadn't anything better to do!
Obviously the only answer is we will have to do the science somehow ultimately. Still I find a hypothesis that we just did not have something more stimulating than talking to uncle Marty about old dodge pickup grandad "forced" him to drive in high-school is the reason we did not previously tend to all retire to our own corner as readily.
It sure seems like we are getting 'something' out of these connected devices that meeting or making us feel our needs are being meet.
Did we miss something? (Score: 5, Insightful)
by mitchy ( 34242 ) on Monday July 06, 2026 @12:43PM (#66225172)
How is *cost* not a major line item in this discussion? Concerts are unaffordable. Sporting events are unaffordable. Amusement parks are unaffordable. And those are the easy big-ticket items.
Part of the reason all the "hangout-y" places are going out of business is because nobody is going, but is that due to lack of interest or unsustainable costs?
The people who *responded* (Score: 5, Funny)
by Kevin108 ( 760520 ) on Monday July 06, 2026 @04:37PM (#66225590)
only socialize for 35 minutes a day. They have more free time, but they spend it participating in surveys.