A new analysis reveals a dramatic decline in human conversation, with the average number of spoken words per day dropping nearly 28% between 2005 and 2019.
Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Arizona analyzed 22 studies involving over 2,000 participants who recorded their daily audio. In 2005, people spoke an average of 16,632 words daily. By 2019, that figure had fallen to just 11,900.
The shift corresponds with the rise of digital communication: ordering via apps, increased texting, and a general migration of social interaction online. The researchers suspect the trend has only deepened since the pandemic.
"It's not just small talk — it's all talk that's dying," said Terrence O'Brien, weekend editor at The Verge.
The study, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, underscores a fundamental change in how humans connect — or fail to.