American Time Use Survey · 2003–2025
The case of the shrinking hour
In 2003, young Americans spent about an hour a day just being with other people. Something has been eating into it.
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Before we start
Make a guess
How much of that hour do you think is left? Guess how many minutes a day 15–24-year-olds spend socializing now.
Drag the slider, then reveal the real number.
The case
Nearly 40% gone
In 2003–04, 15–24-year-olds spent 59 minutes a day socializing.
By 2024–25, it was 36. That's 23 minutes a day, gone.
Every age group lost some. Young people lost the most.
Find your own line.
The suspects
Who took it?
A day always adds up to 24 hours, so if socializing shrank, something else grew. Start with the usual suspects: work and TV.
Work: cleared. 15–24-year-olds work 18 fewer minutes a day than in 2003–04.
TV: cleared. TV time fell 34 minutes. So young people got time back, and still spent less of it together.
The time went somewhere quieter: sleep and personal care (+39 minutes), other leisure like games, computers and reading (+29), and chores (+18). These moved together; the data can't prove one caused another.
Clue 1
The weekdays emptied out
For 15–24-year-olds, weekday socializing nearly halved, from 50 to 28 minutes. Weekends held up better, from 80 to 54. Time together is becoming something we save for days off.
Clue 2
More of the day, alone
Since 2010–11, 20–24-year-olds went from 4h13m a day alone to 5h37m.
Time with other people fell by nearly two hours. Across all ages, time with friends halved, from about an hour a day to 32 minutes.
Weigh it
Put a day on the scale
Take every waking hour of an average day for 20–24-year-olds in 2010–11. Put the hours spent with other people on one side, and the hours alone on the other.
Now 2024–25. Three people step off the "with others" side and stand alone. The scale is tipping toward alone.
Drag through the years yourself, or change "I'm…" at the top to weigh your own age group.
The verdict
Nobody stole it
Here's one average day for 15–24-year-olds in 2003, as a clock. The pink wedge, by the water, is time spent socializing. The hands hold it in place.
Run it to 2025. The hands close in, and the front of the clock melts into the lake. The hour wasn't stolen. Bit by bit, more of the day was spent alone.
If AI gives us back more of our hours, will we spend them on each other? Or will they melt the same way?