Gen Zers spent 87% of their day with other people before the pandemic, but for one in ten that number quietly dropped to zero

New data suggests that a meaningful share of Gen Zers are going entire days without meeting another person face to face. An analysis of American Time Use Survey data found that about ten percent of people aged 23 to 29 report zero daily in-person social interaction, a striking figure years after pandemic restrictions ended. As detailed by BroBible, the habits formed during lockdowns appear to have outlasted the circumstances that created them.

The shift becomes clearer when compared with pre-pandemic numbers. According to the American Time Use Survey, only three percent of young people reported skipping regular in-person socializing in 2019. That figure climbed to nearly nine percent by late 2021 and peaked at ten percent in 2023, and while it has eased slightly through 2024 and 2025, it remains well above where it stood before the pandemic began.

The daily time breakdown tells a similar story. Young adults who were highly socially active once spent 87 percent of their day around others, a number that fell to 78 percent during the pandemic and has only partially recovered to 83 percent in 2025. A separate group that used to spend about a third of the day with other people saw that figure drop to zero, and it has stayed there since.

Screens are quietly filling the space that real interaction used to occupy

Experts caution against framing the shift as a deliberate choice. Dr. Munia Bhattacharya, a senior consultant psychologist at Marengo Asia Hospitals in Gurugram, told WION that people rarely decide outright to isolate themselves. She noted that “human behavior is rarely that simple,” pointing out that isolation often develops gradually rather than as a conscious decision. According to Bhattacharya, the pandemic may have simply accelerated a process that was already underway.

Screen habits help explain part of the trend. The American Time Use Survey shows that daily time spent on computers and social media rose from 25 minutes in 2015 to 37 minutes in 2025, with teenagers now averaging about 90 minutes a day. Amid that shift, other viral workplace stories have circulated recently, including one where a job candidate walked away from an interview process after HR asked her to clear three additional rounds beyond the two she had already completed.

Overall daily socializing time has also declined over the past two decades, dropping from 45 minutes to 35 minutes. People between the ages of 15 and 24 saw the sharpest drop, falling from about an hour of daily social time to just 35 minutes today. Alongside broader social media culture, unrelated viral incidents have also drawn attention this month, including a Florida shopper’s dispute with store security over a scanning error.

The American Time Use Survey is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and tracks how Americans divide their time across work, caregiving, volunteering, and other daily activities.