Derek Thompson

1928.

1928.

1928.

It's really wonderful to be here, and I'm excited to talk to you as well.

It's really wonderful to be here, and I'm excited to talk to you as well.

It's really wonderful to be here, and I'm excited to talk to you as well.

This is a story that seems to go back at least 60 years. There was a very famous book written in 2000 called Bowling Alone by the sociologist Robert Putnam.

This is a story that seems to go back at least 60 years. There was a very famous book written in 2000 called Bowling Alone by the sociologist Robert Putnam.

This is a story that seems to go back at least 60 years. There was a very famous book written in 2000 called Bowling Alone by the sociologist Robert Putnam.

And Putnam traced the entire 20th century and showed that in the first half of the 20th century, people were significantly more social, more likely to join unions and clubs and associations, more likely to get married, more likely to have children. Just about every measure of sociality was rising as if on a single wave for the first 50 or 60 years of the 1900s.

And Putnam traced the entire 20th century and showed that in the first half of the 20th century, people were significantly more social, more likely to join unions and clubs and associations, more likely to get married, more likely to have children. Just about every measure of sociality was rising as if on a single wave for the first 50 or 60 years of the 1900s.

And Putnam traced the entire 20th century and showed that in the first half of the 20th century, people were significantly more social, more likely to join unions and clubs and associations, more likely to get married, more likely to have children. Just about every measure of sociality was rising as if on a single wave for the first 50 or 60 years of the 1900s.

And then in the second half of the 20th century, something changed, and people became less likely to marry, less likely to have children, less likely to join associations, less likely to spend time with people, really less likely to do just about everything.

And then in the second half of the 20th century, something changed, and people became less likely to marry, less likely to have children, less likely to join associations, less likely to spend time with people, really less likely to do just about everything.

And then in the second half of the 20th century, something changed, and people became less likely to marry, less likely to have children, less likely to join associations, less likely to spend time with people, really less likely to do just about everything.

And the book is really extraordinary in that it traces everything from big social phenomena like marriage to tiny social phenomena like how many – thank you cards or greeting cards you fill out every year, and finds that just as all manner of socializing was on a surging wave in the first half of the 20th century, that wave crashed and declined in the second half.

And the book is really extraordinary in that it traces everything from big social phenomena like marriage to tiny social phenomena like how many – thank you cards or greeting cards you fill out every year, and finds that just as all manner of socializing was on a surging wave in the first half of the 20th century, that wave crashed and declined in the second half.

And the book is really extraordinary in that it traces everything from big social phenomena like marriage to tiny social phenomena like how many – thank you cards or greeting cards you fill out every year, and finds that just as all manner of socializing was on a surging wave in the first half of the 20th century, that wave crashed and declined in the second half.

A lot of people are familiar with Robert Putnam and his thesis of bowling alone, but what really startled me is that there was a tremendous acceleration of alone time in the 21st century.

A lot of people are familiar with Robert Putnam and his thesis of bowling alone, but what really startled me is that there was a tremendous acceleration of alone time in the 21st century.