The changes in daily life induced by the COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to longstanding concerns about social isolation in the United States. Despite the links between the physical setting for individuals' daily lives and their connections with family, friends, and the various institutions of collective life, trends in where American adults spend their time have been largely overlooked as researchers have focused on how and with whom they spend their time. This article analyzes data from the American Time Use Survey over a timeframe spanning nineteen years and argues that the changes in Americans' daily routines induced by the COVID era should be seen as an acceleration of a longer-term trend: the rise of time spent at home. Results show that from 2003 to 2022, average time spent at home among American adults has risen by one hour and 39 minutes in a typical day. Time at home has risen for every subset of the population and for virtually all activities. Preliminary analysis indicates that time at home is associated with lower levels of happiness and less meaning, suggesting the need for enhanced empirical attention to this major shift in the setting of American life.
Homebound: The Long-Term Rise in Time Spent at Home Among U.S. Adults
The changes in daily life induced by the COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to longstanding concerns about social isolation in the United States. Despite the links between the physical setting for individuals' daily lives and their connections with family, friends, and the various institutions of collective life, trends in where American adults spend their time have been largely overlooked as researchers have focused on how and with whom they spend their time. This article analyzes data from the American Time Use Survey over a timeframe spanning nineteen years and argues that the changes in Americans' daily routines induced by the COVID era should be seen as an acceleration of a longer-term trend: the rise of time spent at home. Results show that from 2003 to 2022, average time spent at home among American adults has risen by one hour and 39 minutes in a typical day. Time at home has risen for every subset of the population and for virtually all activities. Preliminary analysis indicates that time at home is associated with lower levels of happiness and less meaning, suggesting the need for enhanced empirical attention to this major shift in the setting of American life.
The Anti-Social Century
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
Digital inequality in communication during a time of physical distancing: The case of COVID-19
In times of physical distancing, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, people are likely to turn to digital communication to replace in-person interactions. Yet, persisting digital inequality suggests that not everyone will be equally able or disposed to increasing digital communication during a public health crisis. Using survey data from a national sample of U.S. participants (N = 2,925) that we collected during the early months of the pandemic, we analyzed how sociodemographics, living arrangements, and Internet experiences and skills relate to increases and decreases in various digital communication methods. We find that people privileged in their socioeconomic status, their Internet skills and online experiences are more likely to increase and less likely to decrease digital communication during the pandemic. The findings illustrate how digital inequalities can put already disadvantaged groups at greater risk of diminished social contact during a public health crisis. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings for digital inequality research, the practical implications for inclusive crisis responses, and directions for future research.
Does Using Social Media Jeopardize Well-Being? The Importance of Separating Within- From Between-Person Effects
Social networking sites (SNS) are frequently criticized as a driving force behind rising depression rates. Yet empirical studies exploring the associations between SNS use and well-being have been predominantly cross-sectional, while the few existing longitudinal studies provided mixed results. We examined prospective associations between SNS use and multiple indicators of well-being in a nationally representative sample of Dutch adults ( N ∼ 10,000), comprising six waves of annual measures of SNS use and well-being. We used an analytic method that estimated prospective effects of SNS use and well-being while also estimating time-invariant between-person associations between these variables. Between individuals, SNS use was associated with lower well-being. However, within individuals, year-to-year changes in SNS use were not prospectively associated with changes in well-being (or vice versa). Overall, our analyses suggest that the conclusions about the causal impact of social media on rising mental health problems in the population might be premature.
Loneliness in the United States: A 2018 National Panel Survey of Demographic, Structural, Cognitive, and Behavioral Characteristics
Purpose: To inform health behavior intervention design, we sought to quantify loneliness and its correlates, including social media use, among adults in the United States. Design: Cross-sectional research panel questionnaire. Setting: Responses were gathered from individuals in all 50 states surveyed via Internet from February 2018 to March 2018. Participants: A total of 20 096 US panel respondents aged 18+. Measures: The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (theoretical score range = 20-80) was administered along with demographic, structural, cognitive, and behavioral items. Analysis: After calibrating the sample to population norms, we conducted multivariable linear regression analysis. Results: The overall mean survey-weighted loneliness score was 44.03 (standard error = 0.09). Social support (standardized β [sβ] = −0.19) and meaningful daily interactions (sβ = −0.14) had the strongest associations with lower loneliness, along with reporting good relationships, family life, physical and mental health, friendships, greater age, being in a couple, and balancing one’s daily time. Social anxiety was most strongly associated with greater loneliness (sβ = +0.20), followed by self-reported social media overuse (sβ = +0.05) and daily use of text-based social media (sβ = +0.03). Conclusion: Our findings confirm that loneliness decreases with age, and that being in a relationship as well as everyday behavioral factors in people’s control are most strongly related to loneliness. Population health promotion efforts to reduce loneliness should focus on improving social support, decreasing social anxiety, and promoting healthy daily behaviors.
Why Do Americans Have Shorter Life Expectancy and Worse Health Than Do People in Other High-Income Countries?
Americans lead shorter and less healthy lives than do people in other high-income countries. We review the evidence and explanations for these variations in longevity and health. Our overview suggests that the US health disadvantage applies to multiple mortality and morbidity outcomes. The American health disadvantage begins at birth and extends across the life course, and it is particularly marked for American women and for regions in the US South and Midwest. Proposed explanations include differences in health care, individual behaviors, socioeconomic inequalities, and the built physical environment. Although these factors may contribute to poorer health in America, a focus on proximal causes fails to adequately account for the ubiquity of the US health disadvantage across the life course. We discuss the role of specific public policies and conclude that while multiple causes are implicated, crucial differences in social policy might underlie an important part of the US health disadvantage.
How do social media use, gaming frequency, and internalizing symptoms predict each other over time in early-to-middle adolescence?
Abstract Background The effects of adolescent digital technology use (e.g. social media, gaming) on their mental health are a major public health concern, but existing evidence is of mixed quality and findings have been inconclusive. Methods Separating within-person effects from between-person effects, a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was applied to three annual waves of data (T1, T2, T3) on social media use, gaming, and internalizing symptoms among N = 25 629 adolescents (51% girls, average age 12 years, 7 months (SD = 3.58 months) at baseline) in Greater Manchester, England. Results Longitudinal relationships varied by gender, such that more frequent gaming at T2 predicted less time spent on social media use at T3 in girls (but not boys), and more frequent internalizing symptoms at T2 predicted reductions in gaming frequency at T3 in boys (but not girls). There was no evidence that time spent on social media or gaming frequency predicted later internalizing symptoms among girls or boys. Sensitivity analyses that distinguished active versus passive social media use replicated these findings. Conclusions The findings of this study do not support the widely held view that adolescent technology use is a major causal factor in their mental health difficulties.
What is Causing Our Epidemic of Loneliness and How Can We Fix It?
Researchers share what Americans have to say about social disconnection and potential solutions
Two tests of social displacement through social media use
The present manuscript presents two tests of the hypothesis that social media use decreases social interaction, leading to decreased well-being. Study 1 used the Longitudinal Study of American Yout...
Smartphone interactions and mental well-being in young adults: A longitudinal study based on objective high-resolution smartphone data
Aims: To investigate the effects of objectively measured smartphone interactions on indicators of mental well-being among men and women in a population of young adults. Methods: A total of 816 young adults (mean±SD age 21.6±2.6 years; 77% men) from the Copenhagen Network Study were followed with objective recordings of smartphone interactions from calls, texts and social media. Participants self-reported on loneliness, depressive symptoms and disturbed sleep at baseline and in a four-month (interquartile range 75–163 days) follow-up survey. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the association between smartphone interactions and mental well-being separately for men and women. Results: A higher number of smartphone interactions was associated with lower levels of loneliness at baseline and the same pattern appeared for depressive symptoms, although this was less pronounced. A high level of smartphone interaction was associated with lower levels of disturbed sleep for men, but not for women. In follow-up analyses, a high versus low level of smartphone interaction was associated with an increase in loneliness and depressive symptoms over time for women, but not for men. Conclusions: Smartphone interactions are related to better mental well-being, which may be attributed to the beneficial effects of an underlying social network. Over time, accommodating a large network via smartphone communication might, however, have negative effects on mental well-being for women.
Social Media and Change in Psychological Distress Over Time: The Role of Social Causation
Abstract This article tests the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT), such as the Internet, cell phones, and social media, and change over time in psychological distress (PD) and risk of serious psychological distress (SPD) associated with depression and anxiety disorders. Using a longitudinal panel design, survey data from a representative sample of American adults, findings revealed that home Internet and social network site (SNS) use are associated with decreased PD over time. Having extended family who are also Internet users further decreases PD. PD increased or decreased in relation to change in the PD of extended family who also use SNSs. For most people, ICT substantively reduce PD; in rare cases, an extreme spike in PD of extended family also on SNSs, there was a trivial increase to the risk of SPD. PD did not change when extended family not on social media experienced a change in their PD.
Increases in Serious Psychological Distress among Ontario Students between 2013 and 2017: Assessing the Impact of Time Spent on Social Media
Objective: The objective of the current research was to examine the association between time spent on social media and serious psychological distress between 2013 and 2017, a period when the rates of both were trending upward. Methods: The current study analyzed population-based data from 3 waves of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey ( N = 15,398). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the association between time spent on social media and serious psychological distress controlling for theoretically relevant covariates. Interactions were tested to assess whether the association changed over time. Results: The prevalence of serious psychological distress increased from 10.9% in 2013 to 16.8% in 2017 concomitantly with substantial increases in social media usage, especially at the highest levels. In the multivariate context, we found a significant interaction between social media use and the survey year which indicates that the association between time spent on social media and psychological distress has decreased from 2013 to 2017. Conclusion: Although both social media use and psychological distress increased between 2013 and 2017, the interaction between these variables indicates that the strength of this association has decreased over time. This finding suggests that the higher rate of heavy social media use in 2017 compared to 2013 is not actually associated with the higher rate of serious psychological distress during the same time period. From a diffusion of innovation perspective, it is possible that more recent adopters of social media may be less prone to psychological distress. More research is needed to understand the complex and evolving association between social media use and psychological distress. Researchers attempting to isolate the factors associated with the recent increases in psychological distress could benefit from broadening their investigation to factors beyond time spent on social media.
America has a loneliness epidemic. Here are 6 steps to address it
Lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a new advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General.
Associations of Sociodemographic and Neighborhood Vulnerability With Cardiovascular Health in Midlife Women in the United States
BACKGROUND: Many women have suboptimal cardiovascular health (CVH), which declines during midlife. Few studies have characterized CVH across the menopausal transition or identified its sociodemographic and neighborhood determinants. METHODS: We analyzed a prospective cohort of women in eastern Massachusetts enrolled during pregnancy (1999–2002) and followed to midlife (2019–2024). Exposures included household income, education, race and ethnicity, and neighborhood Social Vulnerability Index (categorized from very low [<20th percentile] to very high [≥80th percentile]; higher categories=greater neighborhood vulnerability). Women self-reported their menopause status using questionnaires. Using Life’s Essential 8, we derived CVH scores (0–100 points; higher score=better CVH) at 3-, 8-, 13-, 18-, and 23-year follow-up visits. Linear spline mixed-effect models examined associations of sociodemographics and neighborhood Social Vulnerability Index with differences in CVH across different menopause stages (premenopause, perimenopause, and postmenopause). RESULTS: Among 1200 women (mean enrollment age, 32.1 years; 67.5% Non-Hispanic White), 15.4% had household incomes ≤$40 000/y, 8.8% had ≤high school education, and 17.4% resided in very high Social Vulnerability Index neighborhoods. After covariate adjustment, women with lower income, lower education, or identifying as Non-Hispanic Black exhibited lower CVH across follow-up. Independent of individual sociodemographics, continued residence in vulnerable neighborhoods over time was associated with lower CVH and unfavorable CVH trajectories across follow-up. For example, residence in very high (versus very low) Social Vulnerability Index neighborhoods from enrollment to 3-year follow-up corresponded to mean CVH differences of −6.7 (95% CI, −12.3 to −1.2) at 3-year, −9.8 (95% CI, −15.6 to −4.0) at 8-year, −8.9 (95% CI, −13.9 to −3.9) at 13-year, −6.7 (95% CI, −12.9 to −0.5) at 18-year, and −7.2 (95% CI, −12.5 to −1.9) at 23-year follow-up, and with faster CVH score decline during premenopause (−0.62 points/y; 95% CI, −1.22 to −0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Women from disadvantaged sociodemographic backgrounds or residing in vulnerable neighborhoods exhibit poorer CVH across the menopausal transition, highlighting opportunities to optimize long-term CVH and mitigate cardiovascular disease risk.
No effect of different types of media on well-being
It is often assumed that traditional forms of media such as books enhance well-being, whereas new media do not. However, we lack evidence for such claims and media research is mainly focused on how much time people spend with a medium, but not whether someone used a medium or not. We explored the effect of media use during one week on well-being at the end of the week, differentiating time spent with a medium and use versus nonuse, over a wide range of different media types: music, TV, films, video games, (e-)books, (digital) magazines, and audiobooks. Results from a six-week longitudinal study representative of the UK population 16 years and older (N = 2159) showed that effects were generally small; between-person relations but rarely within-person effects; mostly for use versus nonuse and not time spent with a medium; and on affective well-being, not life satisfaction.
Loneliness epidemic
The concept of a "loneliness epidemic" relating to rising rates of social isolation was first described in the 2000s. Robert D. Putnam's 2000 study Bowling Alone was an early instance of describing loneliness as an epidemic, arguing that decreased participation in civic life and community groups was weakening social bonds in the United States.[5]