A new study from linguists and psychologists at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) and Arizona State University (ASU) tracks a steady decline in everyday spoken language. They found the average person speaks 338 fewer words a day. That adds up to roughly 120,000 words a year — the equivalent of tens of thousands of missed human interactions.
In short, we’re talking less. The decline has been apparent since 2005.
“Small changes in everyday behavior accumulate over time. A gradual reduction in how much people speak is invisible day to day, but over many years it can change how people interact,” Pfeifer said. Valeriya Pfeifer is an associate professor of linguistics and psychology at UMKC who led the study with ASU psychology professor Matthias Mehl.
How did the team reach these conclusions?
Pfeifer, Mehl, and their team analyzed data from 22 studies conducted between 2005 and 2019 across the United States, Europe, and Australia.
They examined audio recordings of daily life from 2,197 volunteers aged 10 to 94. Across the 14-year span, participants’ spoken-word counts dropped by an average of 28 percent, BBC Science Focus reported.
That decline means volunteers had far fewer spoken conversations, Pfeifer said. “If people talk less, they lose both the immediate emotional benefits of social interaction and the ability to maintain long-term relationships,” she added. Even brief verbal exchanges matter — things like chatting with a barista, a sales clerk, or other strangers.
The researchers couldn’t pinpoint a single cause for the drop in spoken language, but the study period overlapped with the rise of text messaging, email, and social media — the time when many spoken conversations began moving onto digital platforms.
The team also found age-related differences. Participants aged 25 and under showed a noticeably steeper decline in speaking. That pattern likely relates to heavier technology use in that age group.
“Whether text-based chats provide the same social benefits as spoken conversation remains an open question. Humans have used spoken language for more than 200,000 years, and we still don’t know whether the shift to digital communication will carry social costs,” Pfeifer said.
The researchers still need to uncover the consequences of digital communication and the growing reliance on written text and emojis. The team plans to study more deeply how spoken and written communication affect health, well-being, and feelings of loneliness.
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