A nation of introverts? [Republished]
More data on social habits and screen times
It’s a holiday today, and the markets are closed, so Random Walk is republishing this short essay from Jan. 31, 2024.
Are we introverts? Shut-ins? Something else? Are the kids gonna be alright? What about the rest of us?
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A nation of introverts?
Are introvert preferences starting to show in consumer behavior?
I’m not sure that’s how I would characterize it, but Allison Schrager claims The Introverts Have Taken Over the US Economy.
One other way the pandemic altered America: It has created what might be called the Introvert Economy. The time at home made Americans less fun. 2023 was a year for daytime office holiday parties, after all, and in general Americans are going out less. And odds are it will stick: It is the youngest adults who are going out less, and when they do go out, it is earlier.
Schrager cites the recent BLS American Time Use Survey for the proposition that everyone likes to dine earlier:
The youngs have moved chow time from 7:30 to 6:45.
Schrager further points out that youngs are drinking less, and perhaps socializing (in-person) less, and watching screens more:
Confusing y-axes aside, the survey results are pretty clear that socializing is out, while watching TV or playing video games, is in.
Does that make youngs introverts? Idk know about that. A Nation of Shut-ins, perhaps.1
Something is definitely different about youngs, and their lack of socialization, or at least, their different socialization, is cause for concern, but at the very least, change.
Opting out of important social institutions (predicated, in part, on socializing in-person), may not be a great decision in the longer run.
Random Walk has already mused about the different media mix that youngs consume, and how discontinuous the transition is from the generations prior.
More recent data on that screentime.
84 minutes of Youtube every day may not be a great idea:
Two hours of TikTok every day may not be a great idea:
Two hours of Roblox every day may not be a great idea:
So much screen time for the kiddos!
It’s a survey, so (again), take it for what it’s worth.
But when it comes to media and information, you are what you eat, and the diet is very different, it seems.
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The more interesting observation here is one that Random Walk has made before: that we’ve become increasingly a Nation of Shut-Ins, who drive less, go out less, interact in-person less, watch screens more . . . and yet somehow economic activity is off the hook. It doesn’t make sense.
Consider again, how driving miles are still flat-to-down relative to pre-pandemic levels (and way off the cheap gas growth trend):
Some of that decrease in driving is WFH, I’m sure, but it’s also other things, like not going to the store, and going out to eat.
Again, that’s the stuff typically associated with economic life, or at least, dynamism. Very strange.