Teen Socializing Declined Across Generations

Since the early 1990s, the share of American boys and girls who met friends almost every day outside school hours has fallen by nearly 50 percent. A 2019 study analyzed nationally representative data from 8.2 million adolescents and college entrants collected between 1976 and 2017, finding that face-to-face socializing declined as digital media use increased. The researchers also found that feelings of loneliness among adolescents rose sharply after 2011.

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