Young adults in England spend two more hours alone daily than a decade ago: study

ANBAR, Iraq — Young adults in England are spending significantly more time alone than they did ten years ago, according to a study titled "All by Myself." Men aged 18-29 spent about 6.5 hours alone in 2023, a two-hour increase compared with 2014-2015, while women in the same age group spent roughly five hours alone each day, up 1.5 hours over the same period. The trend moved in the opposite direction for older adults. Women aged 60 and above and men aged 70 and above reported spending 1 to 1.5 fewer hours alone each day than they did a decade earlier. Among 18-29-year-olds, 14 percent said they felt lonely during this time, more than double the 7 percent recorded among those aged 60-69. The study attributed part of the rise to increased screen time, noting that loneliness reached 16 percent among young adults who reported spending most of their time on the internet, compared with 12 percent among those who spent less time online. The research also pointed to the shift toward remote work that became widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that paid work accounted for roughly two-thirds of the increase in time spent alone among young employees.