We have a new survey out today, “A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience.” The report explores how American teenagers (age 13 to 17), spend their time, delves into their social media use, and their personal outlook for the future. There’s lots that is new here, but I want to dedicate this newsletter to discussing one of the more concerning trends revealed in these findings. It’s one that has also been largely ignored.

Consistent with a lot of recent work on the subject, we found that social media use is associated with certain negative outcomes. I should note that at least in this study, only heavy social media use—spending at least four hours a day on these platforms—appeared to matter. There were few differences between moderate and light users. And it was only among girls that social media seemed to be a problem. As I write in the report:

“Heavy social media users report much lower personal satisfaction than those who spend less time o…

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Americans are talking less than we used to. The only species that uses language to communicate, humans are becoming more laconic. A new study found that between 2005 and 2019, Americans spoke “330 fewer words spoken per day for each year during that time period” according to one of the authors. We went from speaking approximately 16,600 words each day to roughly 12,000 on average. That’s a lot less talking. But it’s not only that we’re having fewer conversations, rather who we’re no longer having them with.

Modern society has offered us a greater number of opportunities to engage with strangers online and fewer incentives to do so in the real world. Last week, I visited my first contactless store in the Dallas airport. You pick up an item, walk over to the screen pad, swipe your credit card, and off you go. It’s a seamless process. Many major retailers, including CVS, Whole Foods, and Target have self-checkout options. There are humans around to deter shoplifters, but they rarely talk …

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In less than a couple of weeks, the United States will celebrate its 250^th birthday. A president incapable of civic good will preside over inevitably gaudy, self-aggrandizing, and perhaps polarizing festivities. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed that this year’s July 4^th will be “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.”

But even without Trump’s polarizing presence, the 250^th anniversary of our country’s independence would probably have been a fairly muted celebration. Fewer Americans today feel an affinity for their country. Over the last decade, American pride in the country has plummeted. For most of the recent past, Americans have been exceptionally proud of their country, regardless of which political party occupied the White House. Gallup polls show that from 2001 to 2016, at least eight in ten Americans said they were very or extremely proud to be American. These feelings diminished rapidly after Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, stabilizing somewhat after he left…

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Photo credit: EJ Baker | https://www.inkcap.design/

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Last month, we released a new survey report, Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging, which detailed the changing relationships we have with people living near us. I'd encourage you to read it. As often happens with a survey like this, not all the polling results made it into the published report. This week, I want to share some of the most fascinating stuff that didn’t make the final cut.

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I recently came across a fascinating study by the Pew Research Center which showed that roughly one in three Americans reported having a tattoo in 2023. More than one in five had multiple. But the real story isn’t how many tattoos we’re getting, but who is getting them. In the write-up, Pew helpfully breaks down the results by various demographic groups. Who’s inked up? Younger Americans, those with less formal education, Americans with lower incomes, and women. Especially young women. An astounding 56 percent of women ages 18 to 29 report having a tattoo. (I should note that this was only surprising to me. My 20-something-year-old research assistants were not terribly surprised by this fact.)

Even if this does not seem high, it certainly seems higher than it once was. What do we know about how things have changed? It turns out this is not the first time Pew has asked about tattoos. And the results are very different. Young women were far less likely to report having a tattoo in 2010 t…

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The book that I’ve spent the last year and a half researching and writing is finally off to production. There are still plenty of edits to make, but most of the work is done. Generation Uncoupled is going to be released before the midterm elections this fall, and I cannot wait to talk about it and share more in the coming months.

Preorder Generation Uncoupled

Without going into too much detail, here is what I can tell you about the book. Generation Uncoupled...

1. Features lots of fascinating new polling research that I am confident you will not have seen anywhere else.

2. Is based on over one hundred hours of conversations—focus groups and in-depth interviews—with young men and women about sex, pornography, politics, ghosting, loneliness, social media, and friendship.

3. Has lots of charts! I don’t only rely on our research at the Survey Center, but polling from a variety of research organizations, such as Pew, Gallup, and others.

4. Is about more than dating and sex. Not that these things are unimportant – I talk abo…

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In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, I received a steady stream of email pitches featuring dating-related research. They included research on the states with the highest rates of infidelity (sorry Colorado!), the most desired body types on OnlyFans, and the share of Americans who require consent before receiving a hug (one in three, apparently). There was even one offering aphrodisiac cocktail recipes. Partly, this is the result of some marketing professionals realizing that I research and write about dating and relationships. But the proliferation of this type of research is also an inevitable consequence of lowering barriers to entry. Today, as more methodologically rigorous research has become much more expensive, it is possible to conduct a “survey” with minimal resources and zero expertise. There are now DIY survey tools that allow any user to run their own study. Even before AI, we were producing research of dubious quality and limited use.

This introduces two related prob…

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Earlier this week, I participated in a panel on “Male Vice in an Internet Age,” a conversation that focused on the challenges of Internet pornography and online sports betting. I was joined by Richard Reeves from the American Institute for Boys and Men, Charles Lehman of the Manhattan Institute and my colleague Christine Emba. You can check out our conversation here.

— Dan

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There is a growing consensus that young adults have bucked recent trends towards greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and have become less tolerant than previous generations. Young men have become notably less supportive of gay rights, a fact regularly attributed either to their growing religiosity (wrong) or their growing conservatism (also wrong).

A recent New York Times article by psychologists Tessa E.S. Charlesworth and Eli J. Finkel argues that there has been a rapid increase in anti-gay biases among the public. The authors note not only how rapidly the change has occurred— “In just four years, anti-gay bias rose by around 10 percent,” — but that the increase was especially robust among the youngest adults.

Public polling tells a somewhat different story. First, the views of Gen Z men and women are quite different. In fact, the gender gap on a number of cultural questions is larger among this age group than any other. (If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, this is not news …

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About a year ago, I was at the University of Virginia conducting interviews for my book. I had a lot of interesting conversations with students about dating, politics, and their goals for the future. But one interview in particular stuck out. When I talked to Max, a senior preparing to graduate, he casually expressed that while his employment prospects were good, some places would not want him because he is a “white guy.” He elaborated: “Every time you apply for essentially any job here, there’s a checkbox on the application for race, gender, disability. And I think a lot of people, you know, they see that and they’ll think ‘they don’t want to hire me.’”

A recent essay published in Compact Magazine reminded me of my conversation with Max. Jacob Savage’s “The Lost Generation” argues that, over the last decade, professional opportunities for white millennial men have been disappearing due to discriminatory hiring practices. Savage argued that as organizations sought to implement policies…

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Merry Christmas! It’s hard to believe that 2025 is coming to a close. It was a taxing but rewarding year. I’ve mostly finished work on my book, Generation Uncoupled, which is tentatively scheduled for release in fall 2026. Although book research and writing have taken up much of my energy this year, we managed to publish three major survey reports and lots of newsletters. We have several exciting projects slated for 2026, and I look forward to sharing those results with you in the year ahead.

Before I share our top five survey findings of 2025, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite news stories that featured our research. One of the most rewarding aspects of doing public opinion polling is that I get to regularly engage with some exceptionally smart, motivated, and curious journalists. Our work appeared in more than 250 major news stories this year! Here are a few of my favorites:

Jesus Bot Is Always on Demand (for a Small Monthly Fee) by Jessica Grose for The New York Times

I don’t…

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I write a lot about dating. So do lots of other people. Recently, a series of articles have been published that have hit on a not entirely novel thesis: dating men is a uniquely terrible experience for many women. These articles introduced new terms, “heterofatalism” or “heteropessimism,” to capture the unenviable experience of being a woman attracted to men. I don’t find it difficult to believe that men sometimes engage in offensive, off-putting, or even threatening dating behaviors. I’ve heard plenty of these stories and have written about them. It’s also important to explain why it happens. If our goal is to understand modern dating dynamics, we need to step back from personal narratives that create compelling reading but provide little clarity.

Despite what you may have read, we are not experiencing a crisis of heterosexuality, at least not among college graduates. Most college-educated women are still getting married, even if the process of finding a spouse is less enjoyable than …

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Happy Thanksgiving! If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with any friends or family members who you believe would value it.

Part of what I like about writing Storylines every other week is that I don’t feel pressure to have an immediate response to a viral poll result or breaking news event. A bimonthly publishing schedule means I’ll almost never be the first off the mark. As a result, it encourages me towards a less reactive and potentially more thoughtful type of engagement. This schedule challenges me to offer something more than simply saying, “woah, this is news.”

This is one of those cases.

On November 14th, the Pew Research Center published a startling new analysis of Monitoring the Future data, which revealed a shift in attitudes on marriage. Although the post included a few different findings, a slate of news stories quickly converged on the drop in marriage interest among teen girls. The attention was warranted––it was a dramatic decline. In 1993, 83 percent of 12^th gr…

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Today is my 100^th newsletter! As I wrap up work on my book, I’ll continue to share new insights, interviews, and research on America’s gender conflict. I’ll also be embarking on new major projects in 2026, including research on AI, friendship, and romantic relationships. And a healthy dose of analysis and research on religion as well!

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The state of marriage seems pretty good these days. The divorce rate is falling, and polls consistently find that married Americans are overwhelmingly satisfied with their relationships. A poll we conducted earlier this year found that roughly eight in ten said they were completely or very satisfied with their marriages. Only five percent report being dissatisfied.

Despite this, divorce is not uncommon—Pew finds that one in three Americans who have ever been married end up divorced. The rate has risen among older Americans, but divorce is still an experience that more often occurs during the early years of marriage.

Plenty of couples still contemplate ending their marriages. In a recent survey, we asked married adults whether they had ever contemplated ending their marriage––more than one in five (21 percent) said they had. Women were only slightly more likely than men to report having considered a divorce. It is secular women who are most likely to have given thought to moving on. Near…

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Americans are having fewer children. A new government report found that the birth rate in the United States hit an all-time low in 2024. Whether this constitutes a crisis may depend on what you believe is causing it. Is it the inevitable result of expanding economic opportunities for women? Improved access to and education about birth control? Or is it the result of a more individualistic culture that prioritizes professional accomplishment and individual achievement?

Declining fertility rates are probably not attributable to a single cause, but in the United States, there is a strong connection to one of the defining cultural trends of the 21^st century—the collapse of religious participation. In the U.S., falling birth rates have accompanied a dramatic decline in formal religious participation. Over the last 20 years, the percentage of Americans attending worship services weekly fell from 42 percent to 30 percent, according to a recent Gallup report. These trends have transformed adol…

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After a long summer hiatus, American Storylines is back. I’ve finished a draft manuscript of my book, Uncoupled, and will continue editing and refining it throughout the fall. For those who are interested, the book is scheduled for release in fall 2026. I’ll provide regular updates as things progress.

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American Storylines is taking a summer break. I know it’s only May, but at least in Washington D.C., it already feels like summer—we’re getting 80+ degree days regularly, and random rainstorms that surprise even those who aggressively monitor doppler radar.

It was a difficult decision to make. I published my first Substack newsletter on Sept. 30, 2021, titled “Why Increasing COVID-19 Fatalities May Not Sway the Unvaccinated,” and have published them biweekly ever since. To date, I’ve written nearly 100 newsletters on a variety of topics, including the class divide in religious attendance, pornography use, and dating challenges. These posts reflected my own interests and the work we were doing at the Survey Center on American Life.

In the beginning, I was not sure whether readers would be interested in less personal and more analytical content about topics like dating, relationships and marriage. At the very least, I figured it would provide me with an opportunity to explore interesting …

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Introduction from Daniel Cox:

I’m excited to have Rachel Janfaza guest post for American Storylines. Janfaza is a writer and author of The Up and Up, a fantastic newsletter that is a must-read for anyone interested in better understanding Gen Z. Her interviews with young adults continually challenge me to update my thinking about this dynamic and influential generation.

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