Americans' Social Activity Has Steeply Declined in the Past 30 Years

Automated excerpt

Tracking data from the American Time Use Survey shows that Americans are spending more time alone and less time with friends than they were two decades ago. These questions directly replicate the DDB Needham Life Style surveys, which tracked Americans’ participation in various activities from 1975-1999 and were referenced in Robert Putnam’s 2000 book “Bowling Alone. ” In this analysis, Data for Progress’ 2026 data is compared with the DDB Needham Life Style survey from 1995, which is the earliest year in which full data for all comparison questions was available.

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