Not just Americans, Indians are also spending less time socialising, a Moneycontrol analysis of Time Use Survey results released by the government on February 25 has found.
Men seem to be more ‘asocial’ than women. The number of men socialising and participating in community events and religious practices declined to 89.8 percent in 2024 from 91.4 percent five years ago.
The percentage of women participating in these activities decreased to 90.7 percent from 91.3 percent.
The American Time Use Survey conducted in 2023 showed similar results, which The Atlantic magazine in its January 8 issue defined as “The Anti-Social Century”.
Indian results indicate that not only are fewer people engaged in socialising but the time spent on the activity has also reduced, especially for men.
While 9.3 percent of men’s time was spent socialising in 2019, it fell to 8.6 percent in 2024.
Women spent roughly the same amount of time socialising as before.
Young and alone
The decline has mostly come among the 15-29 age group, where the proportion of people spending less time socialising has come down to 90.6 percent from 91.9 percent earlier.
On the other hand, in the 15-59 age group, 92.9 percent were engaged in socialising activities compared with 93.4 percent in 2019.
The declined in socialisation has been sharper in rural areas that in urban settings. In rural areas, the share of people socialising went down from 91.5 percent in 2019 to 90.1 percent in 2024. In urban areas, it fell from 91 percent to 90.8 percent.
More time on mass media?
The decline in socialisation has been accompanied by an increase in time spent on culture, leisure, mass media, which includes information and technology (ICT) devices, and sports activities.
ICT is a broad term that includes cellphones, hence social media, radio, television and satellite systems.
In 2024, 95.3 percent of men and 90.7 percent of women were engaged in mass media, culture and leisure activities compared with 88.5 percent and 85.3 percent five years ago.
The time spent rose to 11.7 percent for men from 10.1 percent in 2019 and 10.3 percent for women compared with 9.8 percent five years ago.
The proportion of people spending more time on leisure and mass media rose faster in the 15-59 age group from 82.6 percent in 2019 to 91.9 percent in 2024. Around 93 percent of people were engaged in such activities in 15-29 age group.
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