Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Trends

Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline (theguardian.com)
Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.

Health, Europe, England, Demographics, Social Trends

34 points by pseudolus 3 days ago | 48 comments

How America traded systematic improvement for quick wins–and lost both (population.fyi)
On a crisp morning in early 2024, deep in traditionally Democratic strongholds like the Bronx and Queens, voters shifted rightward—not out of newfound conservative conviction, but from frustration with government effectiveness.

Politics, United States, Social Trends, Government

62 points by klooney 11 days ago | 15 comments

The familiar loneliness of the Kinetoscope (resobscura.substack.com)
Lately I’ve been reading a wonderful book called The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s by the historian H.W. Brands. One takeaway: the people noting the similarities between the 2020s and the 1890s are right. From protectionism to polarization to fears of mass automation, the parallels are sometimes uncanny.

History, Technology, Social Trends

17 points by benbreen 16 days ago | 2 comments

US Pedestrian Study: We're Walking Faster, Hanging Out Less (bloomberg.com)

Pedestrian Behavior, Urban Planning, Social Trends, United States

11 points by Amorymeltzer 27 days ago | 7 comments

Young men now spend more of their free time alone than any other group (flowingdata.com)
John Burn-Murdoch, for Financial Times (paywalled), breaks down data from the American Time Use Survey to show the increase in time spent alone, specifically among young people.

Social Trends, Demographics, Youth, Free Time, Data Analysis

74 points by surprisetalk 30 days ago | 124 comments

The reason for the rise in male childlessness (bbc.com)
When the US vice-presidential candidate JD Vance made a comment about “childless cat ladies”, he evoked an image of educated, urbanite, career-minded women.

Demographics, Social Trends, Gender, Family, Politics

15 points by Qem 30 days ago | 9 comments

Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable? (goodtechthings.com)
It’s pretty disorienting to me that smart people, secular people, particularly people in tech, view homeschooling as a high-status option now.

Homeschooling, Education, Social Trends, Technology

374 points by forrestbrazeal 38 days ago | 1348 comments

The Anti-Social Century (theatlantic.com)
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.

Social Trends, Sociology, Loneliness, American Culture, Politics

152 points by coloneltcb 42 days ago | 158 comments

Americans are now spending more time alone than ever (theatlantic.com)
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.

Social Trends, Loneliness, Psychology, Politics

16 points by williamsmj 44 days ago | 1 comments

The average American spent 2.5 months on their phone in 2024 (pcmag.com)
There's a good chance that you're currently reading this article on your phone. If you’re like one of the Americans surveyed by Reviews.org, this is one of 205 times today that you’ll be checking the device in your hand.

Mobile Usage, Technology, Statistics, Social Trends

192 points by elorant 54 days ago | 202 comments

"Unprecedented" decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts (arstechnica.com)
Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.

Teenagers, Drug Use, Public Health, Social Trends

7 points by GeoAtreides 64 days ago | 6 comments

Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts (arstechnica.com)
Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.

Teenagers, Drug Use, Public Health, COVID-19, Social Trends

371 points by pseudolus 66 days ago | 596 comments

Scores for adults are dropping on tests of basic skills (nataliewexler.substack.com)
An international test of adults’ “basic skills” shows that an increasing number of Americans are struggling to do moderately complex tasks that involve reading and math.

Education, Literacy, Testing, Social Trends, United States

82 points by akantler 68 days ago | 111 comments

Ask HN: Do you believe we are in a particularly chaotic time period? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: Do you believe we are in a particularly chaotic time period?

Ask HN, Current Events, Social Trends

10 points by bloomingkales 73 days ago | 17 comments

Boomers grieve not becoming grandparents–Millennials have little sympathy (independent.co.uk)
Amid falling birth rates and growing numbers of U.S. adults opting to remain child-free, boomer and Generation X grandparents are mourning the prospect of ever becoming grandparents. However, according to millennials themselves, the reasons for not having children far outweigh the disappointment their parents may feel.

Generations, Family, Social Trends, Demographics

9 points by ganzuul 76 days ago | 2 comments

The myth of the loneliness epidemic (asteriskmag.com)
Are we really living through a uniquely lonely moment in American history? When it comes to friendship, this isn’t the first time that authorities have cried wolf.

Social Trends, Sociology, History, American Culture

48 points by Luc 88 days ago | 56 comments

China's population woes deepen as marriage registrations tumble (scmp.com)
China is on track to post its lowest number of marriage registrations since 1980 this year, with an estimate from a leading demographer suggesting as few as 6 million couples would tie the knot, prompting local governments to hand out cash incentives.

China, Demographics, Social Trends, Marriage, Population Decline

9 points by paulpauper 104 days ago | 1 comments

Lead–Crime Hypothesis (wikipedia.org)
After decades of increasing crime across the industrialised world, crime rates started to decline sharply in the 1990s, a trend that continued into the new millennium.

Crime, Sociology, Social Trends, Demographics

8 points by segasaturn 113 days ago | 0 comments

Teens Want Less Sex in Movies and TV Shows, Study Finds (variety.com)
Teens want movies and shows to stay in the friend zone.

Entertainment, Media, Teenagers, Social Trends, Research

48 points by Michelangelo11 118 days ago | 42 comments

Peak population may be coming sooner than we think (ft.com)
Peak population may be coming sooner than we think

Demographics, Population Growth, Predictions, Social Trends, Future

17 points by johntfella 119 days ago | 21 comments

UK's fertility rate falling faster than any other G7 nation (news.sky.com)
The average number of children women have in the UK is falling faster than any other G7 country since 2010, Sky News commissioned analysis has found.

Demographics, UK, Fertility Rate, G7, Social Trends

6 points by dustedcodes 131 days ago | 0 comments

Freemasonry in 2024: What makes young members decide joining a lodge is for them (slate.com)
What makes a guy decide to join a really old fraternal order in 2024.

Freemasonry, Social Trends, Fraternal Organizations, Demographics

4 points by Anon84 139 days ago | 2 comments

Bad service is a sign of a better world (economistwritingeveryday.com)
I’ve been hearing more grumbling about bad service in restaurants than usual, bundled with a growing nostalgia for when service was “better”. This could, of course, be simply a sign that my cohort and I continue to rise in age, but let’s put aside healthy skepticism for a moment and accept this observation at face value. What if service in restaurants, hospitality, etc is, in fact, lower in quality than it was one or two decades ago?

Customer Service, Social Trends, Nostalgia

10 points by paulpauper 147 days ago | 0 comments

Gen Z just overtook Baby Boomers in U.S. full-time workforce, by generation (twitter.com)

Generations, Workforce, Demographics, United States, Social Trends

9 points by toomuchtodo 151 days ago | 1 comments

Why has sexual choking become so prevalent among young people? (theguardian.com)

Sexuality, Social Trends, Youth Culture

13 points by howard941 173 days ago | 1 comments

Why So Many People Are Going "No Contact" with Their Parents (newyorker.com)

Family Relationships, Mental Health, Social Trends

22 points by Anon84 174 days ago | 29 comments

More people than ever are eating alone at restaurants (cnn.com)

Dining, Restaurants, Social Trends

22 points by rntn 174 days ago | 14 comments

Korea's birth rate drive struggles to sway 'YOLO' generation (reuters.com)

Korea, Demographics, Birth Rates, Social Trends, Generational Differences

14 points by achristmascarl 178 days ago | 6 comments

Homebound: The Long-Term Rise in Time Spent at Home Among U.S. Adults (sociologicalscience.com)