A study shows that people today use around 30 per cent fewer words per day than they did twenty years ago. On average, the decline has been 338 words per day per year since 2005. The result is that small talk and informal conversations are disappearing – something the researchers link to the ‘loneliness epidemic’.
The study, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, was conducted by psychologists Valeria Pfeifer of the University of Missouri and Matthias Mehl of the University of Arizona. They analysed data from 22 separate studies involving a total of around 2,200 participants aged 10 to 94, mainly from the United States, but also from Mexico, Australia and Europe, conducted between 2005 and 2019.
Put down your smartphone and talk to people!
The participants carried a device that passively recorded portions of their conversations during the day. The researchers found a clear, linear decline: from around 16,000 spoken words per day in the early 2000s to around 12,800 words in 2019 – a decline of approximately 28 per cent.
The decline is most pronounced among those under the age of 25. This group lost an average of 451 words per year, compared with 314 words for those over 25. That represents a 44 per cent greater decline among the youngest.
– It is possible that this contributes to the loneliness epidemic and to people feeling more isolated, says Valeria Pfeifer. She emphasises that spoken conversations are linked to psychological well-being and that relationships built without spoken communication are often weaker.
The researchers point not only to smartphones and social media, but to the ‘convenience economy’. More and more everyday situations that previously required conversation have been digitalised:
People order coffee or food through an app instead of talking to the waiter, shop for groceries online instead of going to the shop, use self-service checkouts – and use GPS instead of asking for directions.
– Technology is replacing situations in which we used to talk to one another, Pfeifer explains.
Spoken language is dying — with people saying about 30% fewer words than 20 years ago.#UAE_BARQ_EN pic.twitter.com/Wg0RfKSd45
— UAE BARQ (@UAE_BARQ_EN) August 11, 2026
Small talk – the brief, seemingly unimportant exchanges with a neighbour, cashier or stranger – has been particularly hard hit; important moments that, according to the researchers, are building blocks of social connection.
Probably intensified by the pandemic
The study covers the period up to 2019. The experts assume that the trend is continuing – and may possibly have intensified since the pandemic, with more working from home and digital communication.
According to the researchers, it remains an open question whether text-based communication can replace the social and emotional benefits provided by conversations. What we do know is that fewer words mean fewer human encounters – and that this may have consequences both for the individual’s mental health and for social cohesion.