Sep 4, 2026 05:42 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/20...-out-loud/
EXCERPTS: It’s become a familiar TikTok trope. A millennial walks into a coffee shop and tries to order something. There are countless iterations, but the basic dynamic is the same: The cashier responds with a gawp, says as little as possible and points to a sign. Another question; another point. One more question. Point. Eye roll.
Like most good generational jokes, poking fun at the now-infamous “Gen Z stare” — a silent, blank expression — works because it gets at something real: We are, quite literally, talking less.
An analysis published in July in Perspectives on Psychological Science of more than 2,000 people found that Americans and people in several other countries are speaking roughly 300 fewer words a day, or about two to three minutes’ worth, with each passing year. The drop — a 28 percent decline from 2005 to 2019 — was especially pronounced among people younger than 25.
The finding raises an obvious question about the influence of smartphones, texting, remote work and other technologies that have allowed us to conduct more of daily life without opening our mouths.
Valeria Pfeifer, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of psychology and counseling at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, came to the finding by accident. She was studying gender differences in speech when she noticed something unexpected in the data: People seemed to be talking less. Curious, she went back to see whether the pattern held — and how much had changed. Only when she looked across the full 14-year span did the scale of the lost words become apparent.
“Once that insight came, it was a big and alarming observation,” Pfeifer said.
For most of human history, speaking was not merely one way to communicate. It was the default. You could write a letter, perhaps. But buying something, finding your way around, meeting a stranger, working alongside someone or maintaining a friendship generally required oral conversation. Now speech is becoming, in many corners of life, optional.
Scientists have long treated changes in speech as a window into the brain. Language difficulties are common in dementia and other neurological disorders. Some patients struggle to retrieve words or express themselves; others have trouble understanding what is said to them. This relationship is usually understood in one direction: The brain changes, and speech changes with it.
But the causal arrow may be messier than that.
[...] Robert Putnam, the Harvard political scientist whose 2000 book “Bowling Alone” chronicled the collapse of American civic participation, sees the decline in spoken interaction as part of a long-standing, broader retreat from face-to-face life. Americans began withdrawing from clubs, churches, neighborhood organizations and other forms of communal participation in the 1960s shortly after TV took off but decades before smartphones arrived. Digital life may be accelerating a process already well underway.
[...] “The problem is that our social brains equate sacrificing time and attention on behalf of someone else as the key sign of an important connection. So, when we make socializing easier, we paradoxically feel less connected and social,” Newport said.
Gen Z appears to have been especially affected, prompting speculation that the pandemic may be partly to blame: Many young people missed critical years of in-person socialization while attending school virtually during covid-19 lockdowns. On social media, interpretations of the Gen Z stare vary. Some see it as rude, or as evidence of an aversion to small talk. Others describe it more sympathetically, as a deer-in-the-headlights response from young people who feel anxious or unsure of how to respond.
[...] “I grew up where, if you are walking the street and a stranger comes towards you, you have to greet them,” said Pfeifer, who is now 37 and from a rural area in northern Germany. “I feel like norms are starting to shift towards the polite thing is not to talk to somebody.”
Yet research suggests that talking to strangers — even when it feels awkward — tends to make people happier and more connected than they expect, and spoken conversation creates a stronger sense of connection than texting... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: It’s become a familiar TikTok trope. A millennial walks into a coffee shop and tries to order something. There are countless iterations, but the basic dynamic is the same: The cashier responds with a gawp, says as little as possible and points to a sign. Another question; another point. One more question. Point. Eye roll.
Like most good generational jokes, poking fun at the now-infamous “Gen Z stare” — a silent, blank expression — works because it gets at something real: We are, quite literally, talking less.
An analysis published in July in Perspectives on Psychological Science of more than 2,000 people found that Americans and people in several other countries are speaking roughly 300 fewer words a day, or about two to three minutes’ worth, with each passing year. The drop — a 28 percent decline from 2005 to 2019 — was especially pronounced among people younger than 25.
The finding raises an obvious question about the influence of smartphones, texting, remote work and other technologies that have allowed us to conduct more of daily life without opening our mouths.
Valeria Pfeifer, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of psychology and counseling at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, came to the finding by accident. She was studying gender differences in speech when she noticed something unexpected in the data: People seemed to be talking less. Curious, she went back to see whether the pattern held — and how much had changed. Only when she looked across the full 14-year span did the scale of the lost words become apparent.
“Once that insight came, it was a big and alarming observation,” Pfeifer said.
For most of human history, speaking was not merely one way to communicate. It was the default. You could write a letter, perhaps. But buying something, finding your way around, meeting a stranger, working alongside someone or maintaining a friendship generally required oral conversation. Now speech is becoming, in many corners of life, optional.
Scientists have long treated changes in speech as a window into the brain. Language difficulties are common in dementia and other neurological disorders. Some patients struggle to retrieve words or express themselves; others have trouble understanding what is said to them. This relationship is usually understood in one direction: The brain changes, and speech changes with it.
But the causal arrow may be messier than that.
[...] Robert Putnam, the Harvard political scientist whose 2000 book “Bowling Alone” chronicled the collapse of American civic participation, sees the decline in spoken interaction as part of a long-standing, broader retreat from face-to-face life. Americans began withdrawing from clubs, churches, neighborhood organizations and other forms of communal participation in the 1960s shortly after TV took off but decades before smartphones arrived. Digital life may be accelerating a process already well underway.
[...] “The problem is that our social brains equate sacrificing time and attention on behalf of someone else as the key sign of an important connection. So, when we make socializing easier, we paradoxically feel less connected and social,” Newport said.
Gen Z appears to have been especially affected, prompting speculation that the pandemic may be partly to blame: Many young people missed critical years of in-person socialization while attending school virtually during covid-19 lockdowns. On social media, interpretations of the Gen Z stare vary. Some see it as rude, or as evidence of an aversion to small talk. Others describe it more sympathetically, as a deer-in-the-headlights response from young people who feel anxious or unsure of how to respond.
[...] “I grew up where, if you are walking the street and a stranger comes towards you, you have to greet them,” said Pfeifer, who is now 37 and from a rural area in northern Germany. “I feel like norms are starting to shift towards the polite thing is not to talk to somebody.”
Yet research suggests that talking to strangers — even when it feels awkward — tends to make people happier and more connected than they expect, and spoken conversation creates a stronger sense of connection than texting... (MORE - missing details)