One in 10 young US adults spends no time with others on a typical day: report
America’s loneliness epidemic is worsening with 1 in 10 young adults now spending an average day without seeing a single person in person
According to a new report, a growing number of young adults in the US are spending their days in social isolation, underscoring how little time some people spend with others in their daily lives.
Financial Times charts based on the American Time primarily use survey show that the social isolation metric spiked from 3% pre-pandemic to around 10% by 2023, maintaining steady through 2025.
However, while the most connected young adults bounced back, interaction for the most isolated quartile dropped to near zero and stayed there.
Given the current scenario ongoing, observers link it to pandemic disruptions, remote work, rising screen time about long-term psychosocial consequences on mental health and relationships.
On the contrary, trends show up in UK and European data on rare get-togethers.
On social platform X, users have been having compelling reactions with one writing, “This one's been building since 2003. 15-to-25-year-olds had already lost 26 minutes a day of in-person time before lockdowns were a thing.”
Second added, “The weird thing is that communication friction has never been lower. Messaging, video calls, games and social media made interaction essentially free but apparently made physical presence easier to substitute away too.”
