Hanging out: Americans report fewer friends. Could the cure be simple?

I found myself just vigorously nodding my head while reading this.

In 1990, 63 percent of Americans reported having five or more close friends. In 2021, only 38 percent did. On an average day 20 years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Time Use Survey, 38 percent of Americans socialized or communicated with friends. By 2021, that number was down to 28 percent.

Meanwhile, I see young people struggling every day with an inability to simply get together to do something—or even to do nothing. My daughters, both teenagers, yearn for outside-of-school socializing, yet often neither they nor their friends are willing to take the step of suggesting a get-together.

This article is mostly a nudge for the book which is new and has mixed views, but the statistics and anecdotes still point to trends that we should think about how to change.