Rebroadcast: Why Americans are spending less time with friends -- and what to do about it
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Americans are spending more time alone and less time with friends. The dramatic drop in how much time you spend with friends, and why it's so important to reverse the trend.
About:
Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR’s award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Funding for this podcast comes from Math Works, creators of Mat Lab and Simulink software, |
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| 0:11.0 | If you care about the state of the world and want to set it on a better course, we have a |
| 0:16.3 | solution that may be somewhat surprising. Work in finance. At CFA Institute, our programs and courses are deeply rooted in ethical perspective, but we don't just teach. |
| 0:28.0 | We create codes of conduct and impact key policy issues with global governments and regulators. |
| 0:34.0 | To join a global network of investment professionals, visit CFA Institute.org |
| 0:39.2 | slash set the standard today. |
| 0:44.8 | This is on point. I'm Magnit Chakra Bardi. |
| 0:48.0 | Americans are lonely. We are spending less time with friends and more time on our own. Now don't take my word for it. |
| 0:56.3 | Take your own word for it. |
| 0:58.0 | Ten years ago, yeah, I was spending a lot more time with my friends on a weekly basis. |
| 1:06.0 | It's much more difficult to make friends in 2022, almost 2023. |
| 1:13.2 | Trying to keep up with the kind of friendships |
| 1:16.7 | that are in, you know, the show Friends and other, |
| 1:19.4 | you know, how I met your mother is a little unrealistic. It's just hard to get together. Social groups, |
| 1:25.6 | smart is active or is convenience anymore. And if it's a choice between on a Saturday |
| 1:31.9 | going and doing something with my friends or taking my kid to a kid's activity that he does. |
| 1:37.0 | We're going to load up the car and go to soccer practice. |
| 1:40.0 | My friends aren't accessible or they've just disappeared. |
| 1:44.0 | Some on-point listeners there coast to coast and across the rest of the country. |
| 1:50.0 | Now according to the Census Bureau's 2021 American Time Use Survey, Americans spend only two hours and 45 minutes a week with their friends. |
| 2:02.0 | A decade ago, we spent more than twice as much time with our friends. A decade ago we spent more than twice as much time with our |
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