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Chatbots Are Like Potato Chips: Understanding Loneliness in the Digital Age
We are talking to each other in person less and to chatbots more. Are these changes in our social interactions contributing to the current loneliness epidemic?
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1.7 Million Unspoken Words
Have you noticed? Compared to prior decades, we’re spending more time alone. American Time Use Surveys from 2003 to 2024 found that 15- to 25-year-olds’ in-person socializing plummeted—from 60 to 36 minutes daily, with parallel, but
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Why Middle-Aged Americans Are In Crisis
There’s plenty of research on children and young adults, and plenty of research on senior citizens, but what about middle-aged people? It can sometimes feel like they’re the forgotten middle child of generational studies. But
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The New Midlife Crisis: Mental and Cognitive Health in Middle-Aged Americans Is Declining
Research has shown that nations with more income inequality, including the United States, have higher levels of loneliness.
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All the Lonely (Middle-Aged) People, Where Do They All Come From?
Teaching: Why are U.S. middle-aged adults experiencing increasingly high levels of loneliness and depression? A three-part lesson brings this cutting-edge research into the classroom.
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The Friend-Group Fallacy
My friendships exist in silos. Each hangout is a feverish one-on-one where we share fries and eye contact, confessions, rants, gossip, and mutual attempts at amateur therapy. This patchwork of get-togethers structures my week: a
