Study Reveals Decline in Communication Among Gamers

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Arizona have found that between 2005 and 2019, our daily spoken word count dropped by nearly 28 percent, a trend that likely worsened during the pandemic. They analyzed data from 22 studies involving over 2,000 participants who recorded their daily conversations. Initially, in 2005, the average was around 16,632 words spoken each day. However, as app ordering became commonplace, texting surged, and our lives shifted more online, this number plummeted to about 11,900 words by 2019.

Concerns have been raised about the psychological impact of this decline in human interaction. It’s not just about the loneliness epidemic or the risk of getting lost in conspiracy theories; the study’s authors highlight a worrying loss of basic conversational skills, such as the ability to avoid interrupting others.

The research indicated that younger individuals are slightly more affected, with those under 25 speaking 451 fewer words daily each year, compared to a 314-word drop for those over 25. On average, the daily word count has decreased by 338 words annually. If this trend continues, we could be speaking fewer than 10,000 words a day now.

Despite these findings, Valerie Fridland, a linguistics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, suggests there’s no need for alarm just yet. Simple changes, like parents engaging more with their babies, using a landline, or taking breaks from smartphones, could help reverse this trend.