Time Spent Alone (ATUS, All Persons 15+)

## What this measures

Average hours per day that Americans aged 15 and over spend alone, excluding time spent sleeping, grooming and on other personal care.

## Why it matters

Time is the one resource everyone has equally. How much of it people spend with other people — or alone — is the most concrete measure of social connection there is. The collapse in time with friends since the early 2010s is the data behind the loneliness conversation.

## How to read it

Average hours per day across all days of the year for the named population. Read the trend over five years or more. BLS published no 2020 estimate (collection was suspended in spring 2020), so the series skips that year.

## What it does not say

Time diaries record what people did, not how they felt about it. Time on social media is not counted as socializing.

## Source

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey (series `TUU10101AA01066731`). Annual, public domain.