Whatever Happened to Friday Night?
Fewer and fewer Americans are kicking off their weekends by socializing.
Sociologist Neal Caren discovered that Americans are spending less time with friends, starting in the mid-2010s. The biggest drop in friend time occurred on Friday nights, which have become just another workday. In the past, Friday night marked the transition from work to social time, but now it feels like any other Tuesday. The change in how people spend their Friday nights might lead to a cultural shift in how they engage with friends.
People are increasingly preferring to stay home rather than go out on Friday nights, possibly due to a decline in drinking, remote work, or work-related fatigue. Regardless of the reason, the overall trend is that people are spending less time with friends, and Friday night is not being replaced by other social events.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
