How Social Media Made Us Less Social
Social media was meant to connect us, instead it has consumed us
Ask the average teenager how they spend their time on social media, and you’ll probably get an annoyed expression and a multiplicity of answers. But there is one pattern that has become more apparent. Increasingly, Americans are not using social media to connect with their friends.
In 2024, we asked social media users how often they interact with their friends online. We were shocked to discover how many were not using these platforms to connect with the people they knew.
Less than half (46 percent) of Americans who use social media report that they connect with close friends often when using it. For most Americans, this is an occasional or infrequent part of their social media regime. They’re not using it to connect with more distant relationships either—whether they’re old high school friends or former work colleagues. Only 15 percent of Americans say they talk frequently with people they know but are not close to.
Younger adults tend to be more sociable online than older users, but ev…
