People socialize less than they used to because our modern entertainment distractions are a lot more compelling

People give lots of reasons why Americans don’t get out and socialize as much as they used to (death of third places! Car-centric suburban infrastructure! Political polarization! Etc) but one thing I almost never see brought up is how much better our distractions are than they used to be. Let’s look at the entertainment options available in an average suburban house 50 years ago, in 1975:

  • 3-10 OTA TV channels, all of which broadcast resoundingly PG-rated content, on a ~20 inch tube TV in a wood-grain console

  • 5-20 radio stations

  • A couple of dozen books

  • A couple of dozen LPs

  • Some magazines

  • The morning paper

  • Hobbies (painting/car repair/knitting/whatever)

  • Playing solitaire with a actual deck of cards

That’s basically it. Everything else required either (1) leaving your house, or (2) having people over. Now let’s compare that to what you have access to in 2025 (don’t nitpick these, you know exactly what I mean)

  • Every movie ever made, on demand, on a fuckhuge HDTV

  • Every TV show ever made, on demand, on a fuckhuge HDTV

  • Every piece of music ever recorded by anyone, anywhere in the world, on demand

  • Every book ever written, on demand

  • Everything on YouTube

  • Every podcast ever made

  • Whatever the fuck “live-streaming” is

  • Everything ever written on the internet

  • Social media; both “productive” (looking at your cousin’s baby pics) and doomscrolling

  • Video games

  • Dating apps

  • An infinite amount of hardcore porn

Plus you can still watch OTA TV (which now has a bunch more channels thanks to digital), listen to the radio, work on your hobbies, and play solitaire (probably on your computer)

It should be obvious that there’s a lot more to do at home than there was back in the day. It can’t be overestimated how much socialization springs from boredom. Remember when you were a kid and went to your friends house because there was nothing to do? The same principal holds true as an adult. We’d all be a lot more social if we didn’t have 100 lifetimes worth of entertainment at our fingertips at all times.

While we’re at it, an underrated reason that people are fatter now is that food is a lot tastier than it used to be in the era of overcooked pork chops and boiled veggies.