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Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:47 am
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:47 am
Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
In its earliest decades, the United States was celebrated for its citizens’ extroversion. Americans weren’t just setting out to build new churches and new cities. Their associations were, as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “of a thousand different types … religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute.” Americans seemed adept at forming social groups: political associations, labor unions, local memberships. It was as if the continent itself had imbued its residents with a vibrant social metabolism—a verve for getting out and hanging out. “Nothing, in my view,” de Tocqueville wrote, “deserves more attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America.”
Something’s changed in the past few decades. After the 1970s, American dynamism declined. Americans moved less from place to place. They stopped showing up at their churches and temples. In the 1990s, the sociologist Robert Putnam recognized that America’s social metabolism was slowing down. In the book Bowling Alone, he gathered reams of statistical evidence to prove that America’s penchant for starting and joining associations appeared to be in free fall. Book clubs and bowling leagues were going bust.
If Putnam felt the first raindrops of an antisocial revolution in America, the downpour is fully here, and we’re all getting washed away in the flood. From 2003 to 2022, American men reduced their average hours of face-to-face socializing by about 30 percent. For unmarried Americans, the decline was even bigger—more than 35 percent. For teenagers, it was more than 45 percent. Boys and girls ages 15 to 19 reduced their weekly social hangouts by more than three hours a week. In short, there is no statistical record of any other period in U.S. history when people have spent more time on their own.
LINK
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:49 am to djmed
quote:
Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
cause most people suck
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:50 am to djmed
quote:
Something’s changed in the past few decades.
Gee, I wonder what that could be...?
So, social media is destroying society? Ironic...
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 8:51 am
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:52 am to djmed
Mostly the internet, but also political polarization and urban planning have a little to do with it too.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:52 am to djmed
I hang out exclusively in the Facebook Metaverse with my E-Friends.
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 8:54 am
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:53 am to djmed
Electronics/tv/atari/nintendo/cell phones
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:55 am to rattlebucket
People no longer put down roots, they're simply cultural vampires.
No sense of community anymore. Churches, social groups, and organizations used to hold communities together. Everyone is turning profits, not building community.
No sense of community anymore. Churches, social groups, and organizations used to hold communities together. Everyone is turning profits, not building community.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:56 am to Costanza
quote:At first I laughed....then I cried
I hang out exclusively in the Facebook Metaverse with my E-Friends.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:56 am to djmed
Hmm. Nothing to do with advancements in technology huh?
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:56 am to MorbidTheClown
quote:
cause most people suck
You think that is new?
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:56 am to djmed
Television set the stage.
Internet ramped it up.
Cell phones and social media have solidified it.
Internet ramped it up.
Cell phones and social media have solidified it.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:57 am to djmed
quote:
Americans seemed adept at forming social groups [then]...Something’s changed in the past few decades...
After the 1970s, American dynamism declined. Americans moved less from place to place. They stopped showing up at their churches and temples.
In the 1990s, the sociologist Robert Putnam recognized that America’s social metabolism was slowing down.
. . .
In short, there is no statistical record of any other period in U.S. history when people have spent more time on their own.
Excellent thesis.
Constant moving away from hometown started the trend; Then divorces. Broken families. Smaller families. Social Media.
The 2020 Forced Isolation-"Lockdown" Op finished off the remnants of "hanging out".
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 8:58 am
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:57 am to djmed
My friends do a monthly board games night. It's really fun and a welcome change from being online all the time.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:58 am to djmed
Let’s bring back mingling, bro.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:58 am to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
Everyone is turning profits, not building community.
Yeah, that’s it. Everyone is working too hard. That’s why I can’t get a plumber.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:59 am to djmed
Because doing social stuff has gotten stupidly expensive for the average person.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 8:59 am to djmed
I think part of it is the internet and social media. I think younger people nowadays are on their phones and there's just more on TV and streaming services to watch on your own nowadays, so you're less likely to get "bored" at home.
I think another thing factoring into this is that any activity outside of the house is just so expensive nowadays. I've had to tell friends fairly recently that I have to call it a night early because I just can't afford to spend anymore money out and about.
I think another thing factoring into this is that any activity outside of the house is just so expensive nowadays. I've had to tell friends fairly recently that I have to call it a night early because I just can't afford to spend anymore money out and about.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 9:00 am to djmed
quote:
They stopped showing up at their churches and temples.
Not just America. It is FAR worse in Europe.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 9:00 am to djmed
iPhone and social media are the reasons why.
These inventions have been a cancer among society. Slowly but surely destroying it.
These inventions have been a cancer among society. Slowly but surely destroying it.
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 9:02 am
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