Axios: One Big Thing: Lonely America

 big thing: Lonely America
 
A grid of line charts displaying the average hours per day spent socializing by age group from 2005 to 2025. Each age group shows a general decline in socializing hours, with the 15-24 age group starting at nearly 1 hour and decreasing to around 0.6 hours, while other age groups trend similarly downward.Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

Americans are spending less time socializing than they did 20 years ago — and the trend cuts across every generation, Axios’ Erica Pandey writes from the new American Time Use Survey.

Why it matters: Our growing isolation is a fundamental shift in the way we live with implications for everything from what we believe to how long we live.

🚨 By the numbers: Average time spent socializing per day has fallen from 45 to 35 minutes over the last 20 years.

The decline is steepest among young people: 15- to 24-year-olds went from spending an hour a day hanging out with others to 35 minutes.

Between the lines: Sociologists and psychologists point to several trends driving this phenomenon in what Substack writer Derek Thompson dubbed “The Anti-Social Century.”

We’re all on our smartphones, often interacting through screens instead of face-to-face. Teens 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.

Longer-term trends are reshaping daily life in ways that make retreat easier. Homes are bigger and more comfortable, with larger TVs. Most restaurants are on food delivery apps, making it easier than ever to stay in.

☕ What to watch: Also contributing to the trend is the decline of gathering spaces, Axios’ Avery Lotz writes.

In a 2025 reportUniversity of Colorado 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.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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