Fracturing of society: Britons talk less and go online more

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Fracturing of society: Britons talk less and go online more – and we’re not even sociable when we’re at home

  • Britons are growing unwilling to join political parties, social or sports clubs
  • Instead of mixing with colleagues and friends, we are often glued to screens
  • The sole bright spot in is that we feel less fear about being out and alone at night

By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 00:18 GMT, 21 February 2020 | Updated: 00:18 GMT, 21 February 2020

We live in a fracturing society in which people are less likely to talk to others, feel at one with their neighbourhood, or even help their children, official analysis has found.

Britons are growing unwilling to join political parties, professional organisations, social or sports clubs.

And over the last year of Brexit turmoil in Parliament, trust in government plunged to barely half the level of four years ago.

Instead of mixing with neighbours, colleagues and friends, we are increasingly glued to the screens that connect us to a virtual world.

Instead of mixing with neighbours, colleagues and friends, we are increasingly glued to the screens that connect us to a virtual world (stock photo)

Instead of mixing with neighbours, colleagues and friends, we are increasingly glued to the screens that connect us to a virtual world (stock photo)

The bleak picture of estates, villages, towns and cities where individuals and families lead lives of deepening isolation was painted by the Office for National Statistics, which found the sole bright spot in its assessment of national ‘social capital’ was that we feel less fear about being out and alone at night.

‘Our social capital findings show that we are engaging less with our neighbours but more with social media,’ said Eleanor Rees of the ONS.

And we’re not even sociable at home 

The average couple spends four hours a day together in the same room, a survey suggests.

Conflicting work hours, different interests and alternative bed times slash the amount of time they spend together.

The typical weekday sees most couples spending seven-and-a-half hours – when they’re not asleep or out at work – at home at the same time as their partner, but only 57 per cent of this is spent in the same room.

At weekends, they spend a total of nine hours under the same roof, but interact for for only 60 per cent of this time.

A third have different bedtimes, the poll of 2,000 couples, commissioned by heating expert Drayton, found.

Separate research shows more than half of us (59 per cent) admit feeling happy when our social plans get cancelled.

Some of us are so keen to avoid meeting up with friends and family we tell a range of lies to get out of arrangements, including pets being ill, car breakdowns and household emergencies.

Millennials are the worst for lying in such circumstances, telling around 22 fibs a year to get out of social events, whereas those over 55 typically tell seven, says the study by Privilege Insurance.

‘We feel safer walking alone after dark in our neighbourhoods, but more recently fewer of us feel like we belong to them.’ 

The findings, drawn from a series of European, government and independent surveys, showed that between 2012 and 2018 the likelihood that we will stop and talk to our neighbours fell by 4 per cent – so that now more than a third of people, 38 per cent, do not routinely chat with those who live close by.

Nearly four out of ten say they still borrow and trade favours and things with their neighbours – but that share also fell over the six-year period, by 3 per cent. 

There are fewer who feel they belong in their neighbourhood, with 69 per cent reported as saying they did in 2015 – but the share had declined to 62 per cent by 2018.

The ONS added: ‘Reported membership of political, voluntary, professional and recreational organisations has also seen a decline from 53 per cent in 2014 to 2015 to 48 per cent in 2017 to 2018.’

Fraying of bonds also appears to have happened within families. In 2012, 42 per cent of adult children who live away from their parents were said to help them out with jobs such as lifts, shopping, writing letters or financial advice. By 2018, that had dropped to 36 per cent.

There was also less help going the other way, with only 59 per cent of parents in 2018 offering assistance, for example with childcare or cooking, compared to 63 per cent in 2012.

In the spring of 2015, when David Cameron secured an election majority, 37 per cent of people said they trusted government. By last spring that was down to 19 per cent.

The only kind of connection that was strengthening was on the web, the ONS said. In 2011, 45 per cent used social networks. By the end of last year, that had rocketed to 68 per cent.