Anti-Social Age

Notes on Derek Thompson's Essay for The Atlantic

Young people are less likely than in previous decades to get their driver’s license, or to go on a date, or to have more than one close friend, or even to hang out with their friends at all. The share of boys and girls who say they meet up with friends almost daily outside school hours has declined by nearly 50 percent since the early 1990s, with... See more

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

Bleak for Gen Z / Alpha

From 1965 to 1995, the typical adult gained six hours a week in leisure time. They could have devoted that time—300 hours a year!—to community service, or pickup basketball, or reading, or knitting, or all four. Instead, they funneled almost all of this extra time into watching more TV.

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

Some of this screen time is social, after a fashion. But sharing videos or texting friends is a pale imitation of face-to-face interaction

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

I think this argument/line of reasoning is not really explored well. Why is it obvious that it pales?

The middle ring is key to social cohesion, Dunkelman said. Families teach us love, and tribes teach us loyalty. The village teaches us tolerance. Imagine that a local parent disagrees with you about affirmative action at a PTA meeting.

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

The middle ring are so-called “weak ties”

The most dramatic tendency that Sayer uncovered is that single men without kids—who have the most leisure time—are overwhelmingly likely to spend these hours by themselves. And the time they spend in solo sedentary leisure has increased, since 2003, more than that of any other group Sayer tracked. This is unfortunate because, as Sayer wrote,... See more

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

But one source of Trump’s success may be that he is an avatar of the all-tribe, no-village style of performative confrontation. He stokes out-group animosity, and speaks to voters who are furiously intolerant of political difference.

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

According to data gathered by the online reservations platform OpenTable, solo dining has increased by 29 percent in just the past two years. The No. 1 reason is the need for more “me time.”

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

Solo dining from outlier to trend

In 2023, 74 percent of all restaurant traffic came from “off premises” customers—that is, from takeout and delivery

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

Most restaurants know are take out operations.

This neededness can come in several forms: social, economic, or communitarian. Our children and partners can depend on us for care or income. Our colleagues can rely on us to finish a project, or to commiserate about an annoying boss. Our religious congregations and weekend poker parties can count on us to fill a pew or bring the dip.

Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century

This is why I think the family as the primary atomic unit creates a foundational and necessary layer in society.