Culture and Social Issues

America’s Social Life Still Hasn’t Recovered From Covid

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Carl Berkeley, CC BY 2.0, <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en>]

Technology could be to blame for why many Americans are living like COVID-19 is still ongoing despite the pandemic ending nearly half a decade ago.

Americans spent on average 0.58 hours of the free time per day in 2025 socializing, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) study published in June. That figure was 0.66 in 2019 pre-pandemic, and 0.54 in 2020.

While the BLS told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the study’s implications fall outside of its scope to comment on, Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst Jennifer Galardi told the DCNF that she believed technology and social media is driving the lack of socialization.

“I don’t think we should be surprised by these numbers. We’ve turned an entire generation on to constant companionship from artificial sources like social media and internet chats,” Galardi said. “So many young adults simply lack the social skills to interact in person.”

Americans spent on average 5 hours 16 minutes on their phone in 2024, according to a Harmony Healthcare IT study — a 14% increase from the previous year.

“Not to mention adults who likely became addicted to convenient, but very anti-social delivery services for everything – food, health appointments (through telehealth appointments, etc.) that they also get limited social engagement.

Galardi noted that adults likely became addicted to “convenient, but very anti-social delivery service for everything,” such as food and telehealth appointments. “We’re all living on our own little islands, and men and women are not meant for that. We are meant to be interdependent,” she said.

“We are seeing very concerning consequences as a result of this trend, with the lack of young men and women interested in dating and getting married, being paramount,” Galardi said. “The two sexes really don’t seem to be all that interested in connecting in a real way. I had one young intern tell me that oftentimes, a young man and woman would meet online and have great conversation via text, but if they were in the same room together, [they] wouldn’t even acknowledge each other. That is crazy!”

However, Galardi warned that the apparent lack of connection may extend beyond people’s private lives and into the culture at-large.

“I think it also breeds immaturity, no matter what the age. When you don’t interact with other humans of differing opinions, that come from different backgrounds, or look different than you, you create a kind of tribal, isolationist culture we see today. No one knows how to disagree anymore without hating each other,” Galardi said. “In general, a lack of social interaction and cohesion begins to make us less human.”