According to Our World in Data, "young Americans spend much more time alone than they did in the past. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, people aged 15–29 spent about 45% more time alone in 2023 than in 2010."
To get an idea of what that represents, "young people spent around four hours alone per day in 2010. By 2023, that number had grown to six hours per day."
The trend is probably similar across the developed world. It's not hard to see how smartphones and social media played a role in this. Interestingly, unlike people over 30 years old, young people are now spending more time alone than they did during the Covid pandemic 5 years ago. So it looks like this is not going to get better over time. Young people grew up with smartphones and did not get use to socialise face to face as much as older generations did. Once these lifestyle habits have set in, it's very hard to change them.
According to Pew Research, 95% of American teens already had a smartphone in 2018, and this regardless of gender, ethnic group or socio-economic level.
There was a big increase from 2015 to 2018, considering that only 73% of teens reported having access to a smartphone in 2014-2015. According to ChatGPT, 98% of young Americans (18 to 29 years old) now have a smartphone and already 94% of younger teens (13-17 years old) do. It's not because Americans have a higher purchasing power either. In Poland and Mexico 99% of young adults have a smartphone, while 98% of young South Koreans and Italians do. The EU average is 97%.
There are a few exceptions if the data given by ChatGPT is correct. It would appear that only 79% of young Japanese have a smartphone. Germany has one of the lowest percentage in Europe, at 93%. That is probably due to conscious decisions from the parents to prevent their teens from having a smartphone so as not to become socially isolated. It must be a serious concern among Japanese parents where the number of hikikomori (reclusive adolescents and young adults) has been high by international standards for several decades (about 2% of young people).
To get an idea of what that represents, "young people spent around four hours alone per day in 2010. By 2023, that number had grown to six hours per day."
The trend is probably similar across the developed world. It's not hard to see how smartphones and social media played a role in this. Interestingly, unlike people over 30 years old, young people are now spending more time alone than they did during the Covid pandemic 5 years ago. So it looks like this is not going to get better over time. Young people grew up with smartphones and did not get use to socialise face to face as much as older generations did. Once these lifestyle habits have set in, it's very hard to change them.
According to Pew Research, 95% of American teens already had a smartphone in 2018, and this regardless of gender, ethnic group or socio-economic level.
There was a big increase from 2015 to 2018, considering that only 73% of teens reported having access to a smartphone in 2014-2015. According to ChatGPT, 98% of young Americans (18 to 29 years old) now have a smartphone and already 94% of younger teens (13-17 years old) do. It's not because Americans have a higher purchasing power either. In Poland and Mexico 99% of young adults have a smartphone, while 98% of young South Koreans and Italians do. The EU average is 97%.
There are a few exceptions if the data given by ChatGPT is correct. It would appear that only 79% of young Japanese have a smartphone. Germany has one of the lowest percentage in Europe, at 93%. That is probably due to conscious decisions from the parents to prevent their teens from having a smartphone so as not to become socially isolated. It must be a serious concern among Japanese parents where the number of hikikomori (reclusive adolescents and young adults) has been high by international standards for several decades (about 2% of young people).
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