Decline in American social activities

Data for Progress compared social activities among American adults in 1995 against 2026. Hanging out with others is down a lot for many activities. We find that Americans’ participation in various social activities has declined by double-digit margins, including attending a class or seminar (-22), entertaining people in your home (-21), attending church or a place of worship (-20), going on a picnic (-19), going to a club meeting (-19), playing cards (-19), going out to breakfast at a restaurant (-13), and doing volunteer work (-12). A few activities have seen increased engagement: using the internet (+90), playing a home video game (+22), attending an exercise class (+14), going to a pop or rock concert (+13), and taking an airline trip for personal reasons (+5). At least staying late at work is also down quite a bit. They used a dumbbell chart to show the difference, but arrows that start with the 1995 value and point to the 2026 value would make for an easier comparison. If they wanted to stick with the dumbbell, I would’ve switched the shades so that present day stands out more. The current color scheme reads backwards in time. Tags: Data for Progress, social