Americans of All Ages Are Spending Less Time Socializing (axios.com)
- Reference: 0184326540
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/06/056242/americans-of-all-ages-are-spending-less-time-socializing
- Source link: https://www.axios.com/2026/07/05/americans-socializing-decline
> Sociologists and psychologists point to several trends driving this phenomenon, which Substack writer Derek Thompson dubbed "The Anti-Social Century" [3]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.
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> Teens, in particular, spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, according to [4]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.
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> 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.
[1] https://www.axios.com/2026/07/05/americans-socializing-decline
[2] https://www.bls.gov/tus/
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/american-loneliness-personality-politics/681091/
[4] https://news.gallup.com/poll/512576/teens-spend-average-hours-social-media-per-day.aspx
Welcome to the non-club, (Score:3)
we're collectively all on the spectrum now.
Looking at it the other way. (Score:4, Interesting)
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)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
> Something IS different about they way interact with smart phone and related technologies.
Agreed, I think the hypothesis is that our connected devices is somehow meeting some of that innate desire for social interaction. Is the device provide the same or greater level of quality and benefit or is it just junk food for the soul? I dunno. However, it's clearly scratching the itch or is at least sufficiently addictive to numb the desire.
Re: Looking at it the other way. (Score:2)
It is summer holidays here. My son is bored. Tv time and tablet time are limited. I was busy with some renovations. He was sighing the entire day... At some point he decided to take initiative. He took his bike and went fir a drive in the forrest nearby. He is very social, so ended up in a conversation with people walking their dogs. Today he decided to dig up a bird that he buried in the garden 2 years ago. Because he is bored, he helps making dinner. He made spinach today. We chatted in the process. Cheri
Born to be mild... (Score:2)
That's why we hang out on slashdot
Re: (Score:2)
Damn that's cold.
fake news (Score:2)
totally fake news, we ameri-cans socialize so much that we are winning the socials. all our socials are the best and our addiction to them clearly shows we are spending 600% 700% 1200% 1000% more time socializing
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
As a friend once said: (Score:3)
"Social distancing since before it was popular!"
(Or at least his t-shirt said that)
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent Funniest of the attempts so far.
I hope the font was big enough to read from a good distance away. Perhaps repeated on the back, too?
Alternate headline (Score:3)
People can't ignore their mobiles for 10 min to talk to anyone in person, and they *certainly* don't want to party.
Did we miss something? (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Re: (Score:2)
Concur with this, the housing and auto prices also play a part into this as a larger percentage of money is going into those large purchases which taps money away from leisure activities. Seeing a movie or going out for drinks or a night on the town also has gotten more expensive.
Even the vacation options are out of reach, plenty of videos and articles about how Disney World has become something you need at minimum $10K to take your family to for even a few days.
Las Vegas used to be a pretty affordable, ea
Re: (Score:2)
People's expectation have shifted a lot too. Having a cookout with another family be it in your own back yard or at the park on one of those nice grills the park service dutifully spends our tax dollars maintaining but (sadly) I hardly see family use much these days.
It works for all ages depending on the people involved you might need to add $6 bottle of wine, or $3 beach ball or package of water guns; but all told you can still have pretty nice little party for 6-8 people for $60 between you.
A lot of it i
Cost (Score:4, Insightful)
I can go over to my friend's house for free. Our neighbors come over to our patio for free, too. Sometimes we make pies. If you want to get really technical, though:
Nominal cost for a nice pie on the patio:
Tub of raspberries on sale (in season) at Costco: $6
Sugar, flour, salt: I'd estimate $1, but I'll be generous and say $2
Coffee - 2lbs bag from Costco usually costs around $16 and makes about 15 big pots of coffee, so $1
So that's, rounding up, $10 to entertain about 8 people, or about $1.25 a person. I'd say that's doable for most people, it just takes some time.
Re: (Score:2)
Even worse, the cheap stuff is largely gone now due to land prices. Bowling alleys, roller skating rinks and arcades were all fairly cheap to run businesses but took up a fairly large land footprint. Also malls are going away as well. We still have several in San Diego County but I don't think they are as much the hangout place as they were before 2000.
Really though, I'm hardly qualified to tell you where teens hangout, as I didn't hangout with hardly any of them myself. Slashdot largely reflects this, I'm
Not surprising (Score:2)
Have you listened to the way people talk? I wouldn't want to listen to it either.
"Social" Networks (Score:2)
I feel like one of the things that changed with social sites is many of us have found our crowd and we "socialise" online. What used to happen was we socialised in person with people near us but they weren't necessarily the right group they were the available people. Plenty of what people do on social networks isn't social but I think research needs to understand better what is happening here as its a change in how people socialise, if anything people are putting more time into it as we can see with how man
The public are as lazy at socializing... (Score:2)
....a Slashdot "editors" are at picking content.
Talking (Score:3)
I don't know about this. Remember when you would stay up late on AIM or ICQ or MSN or whatever and chat with people? It doesn't matter that it was remote, it was one-on-one personal interaction... often more personal than you would get from "socializing." Is it materially different now that those chats happen over text or Whatsapp or Discord? Social media sucks, but people still talk , right? This doom-and-gloom narrative is getting tiring...
Re: (Score:2)
And note that talking to someone on the telephone is apparently A-OK. It's just "chatting online" that is the evil of the day.
I remember the same stories, substituting "telephones" with "smartphones". (For the young-uns - used to be there was only one phone line in the house, and your parents would get real cranky if you spent too long talking with your friends. Or for later-me, dialed in to internet.)
History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
Socializing isn't fun (Score:2)
There was a time when socializing was fun.
You could talk to people and you weren't immediately judged, seen as a threat, or seen as an outsider. A lot of it is social media conditioning. A lot of it, (at least in American culture), is that you can't hang around people that are 'below' you, and you must focus your entire life around your personal 'brand'. Men can't even socialize with women that much anymore - men are seen as a threat and women generally seem to not enjoy having men around unless she'
The people who *responded* (Score:2)
only socialize for 35 minutes a day. They have more free time, but they spend it participating in surveys.
Socializing has its limitations (Score:2)
Socializing without activity is pretty damn boring. I go sailing and rock climbing all weekend. Some of that time is spent talking to other sailers, climbers, and people who hang out around those places. I often see people enjoying nature by taking a walk and talking to family or friends on the phone. I saw a guy kayaking on a beautiful, perfect day on his ear phone chatting away to someone. I do not understand this at all, but I'm reluctant to talk to anyone on the phone or to even text with most people be
Two Things (Score:3)
First, I'm shocked that there is only a 10 minute(22%) drop over 20 years.
Second, this is survey based data. Something that should almost never be trusted for accuracy.
Suffering idiots rudely? (Score:2)
While I mostly concur with your observations, I am not shocked and would prefer to go for the obvious joke:
Chatting with an AI is better. It may be an idiot, but it's generally a polite idiot. Even a deferential idiot. Even when it's telling it's biggest lies.
But seriously, folks, I think it would have to be a longitudinal study to have any substance. Needs to track the SAME people over time. Also should use objective metrics rather that self-reported results.
Now I want to go back to my AI tests disguising
Re: (Score:2)
*sigh*
s/it's biggest lies/its biggest lies/
But this thread got me to go back and look again at Gemini's answer. Only Gemini changed its answer completely and this time seemed to be offering a much more plausible answer to the SAME question. I actually used the search history to repeat the query, so I'm sure it was the same words, but the answer was completely new. Followed up by a quite pleasant "discussion" of the historical context. Including a couple of meaningless and insincere apologies and some "You d
Re: (Score:2)
> First, I'm shocked that there is only a 10 minute(22%) drop over 20 years.
> Second, this is survey based data. Something that should almost never be trusted for accuracy.
Surveys that demand a bit too much honesty from humans tend to hint that Reality is much worse.
But don't take my word for it. Just ask the next guy for his internet history.