Study: Germans swap friends for screens as classic socializing fades

Traditional socializing is losing ground in Germany, with the share of people regularly spending time with friends falling from 37% to 19% over the past 40 years, according to a new survey by the Hamburg-based BAT Foundation for Future Issues. 

Meeting friends remains the most important social leisure activity, but its significance has declined, the foundation said, citing its new Leisure Monitor survey of 3,000 people conducted in July.

"Four decades of leisure research reveal that it is not the needs of citizens that have fundamentally changed, but rather the ways in which they find recreation, activity and community," said Ulrich Reinhardt, the foundation's academic director. Everyday life, he said, is dominated by internet use, television, listening to music and mobile phones.

AI as a substitute for friends

Activities that can be used regardless of location or time recorded particularly strong growth. In 2016, 52% of respondents said they listened to music at least once a week; that figure has now risen to 82%. Video games grew in popularity from 9% to 33%, and social media from 48% to 71%.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now used at least once a week by 42% of respondents, and by 62% of those aged 18 to 24. Reinhardt said AI use was not merely about finding information but about solving tasks. For young people, he said, it had become an adviser, a source of validation and a substitute for friends. The question was asked for the first time this year.

Germans exercise more

Leisure time is about more than just media consumption, Reinhardt said. The just under four hours that Germans have free on a weekday are also spent reflecting, having meaningful conversations and spending time with a partner, according to the survey. Doing nothing - or "chilling" - is also part of the weekly routine, and has risen by 15 percentage points since 2016 to 62%.

Germans are not, however, spending more time on the sofa than they did 40 years ago - quite the opposite. Sport has grown significantly in importance. In 1986, fewer than one in five people (18%) exercised at least once a week; today more than half the population (53%) is physically active, the foundation said.

Club culture holds steady

Visits to leisure and amusement parks, as well as museums and art exhibitions, are more popular than they were 10 years ago. Zoos, concerts and festivals have also grown in appeal, each gaining 13 to 15 percentage points in the survey. Nightclubs, by contrast, have lost 11 percentage points in popularity, and folk festivals five points.

Going-out culture has changed, Reinhardt said. "People are primarily looking for leisure activities that allow for relaxed, spontaneous and short-term use, rather than being tied to fixed events, long evenings and communal socializing," he said.

Club culture and volunteering have not, however, lost their appeal. Some 18% of respondents are active at least once a week in sports, choral or other clubs - the same share as 10 years ago. Some 12% regularly do voluntary work, up from 10% 10 years ago and just 6% 40 years ago.