Scott and SadieOn average, people are saying FEWER WORDS than they used to. (And no, that’s not just because there are fewer disclaimers at the end of radio commercials . . . or fast-talking ads for Micro Machines.)
According to a new study, people are speaking about 3,000 FEWER WORDS each day, compared to 20 years ago. The current average is about 13,000 words per day . . . down from around 16,000 per day in 2005.
The reason? More reliance on digital communications like texting and social media. So, instead of calling your mother-in-law back . . . and getting stuck on the phone for 20 minutes . . . you can just respond with a text saying, “OK.”
There’s a stereotype that women speak more than men, and that IS true . . . but not by THAT much.
The study found that women speak around 13,350 words per day, compared to 11,950 for men.
But that 1,000-word difference is very small compared to the vast individual variation in daily speech, which ranges from fewer than 100 words to more than 120,000 words per day.
So is this a bad thing? Maybe . . . if it means we’re being less social.
Researchers say that the declining trend has broader implications for human health and well-being. Quote, “social interaction through conversation plays a crucial role in mental and physical health, similar to exercise or sleep.”
And so the next trend could be “goals” of speaking more than 10,000 words . . . just like hitting 10,000 steps.
In fact, there are new tools being developed . . . like a Fitbit . . . that would measure daily conversation time, without recording content.
Add comment