We have never been easier to reach. A message arrives in a second, a video call to another continent costs nothing, and the building's group chat has forty neighbours in it. And yet more and more people say they spend a lot of time on their own — and that they don't actually know those neighbours from the chat.
The advertising industry already has a slogan for this: "Together is the new luxury." It sounds clever. But behind the slogan sits a very real question: how is the way people meet in person changing — where, and why?
The paradox: connected, but alone
Let's start with data that has nothing to do with marketing. The American Time Use Survey, run by the US government, asks thousands of people every year to record in detail how they spent their day. According to Our World in Data's analysis, people aged 15 to 29 spent about six hours a day alone in 2023, compared with about four in 2010 — roughly 45% more in thirteen years.
The World Health Organization sees a similar picture. By its 2025 estimate, loneliness affects about one in six people worldwide, and 17–21% of people aged 13 to 29 report it.
In England, the government's Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26, with more than 175,000 responses, found that 7% of adults feel lonely often or always. The rate is highest among 16–24-year-olds, at 9%.
Now for the data the advertising slogan grew out of. For its trends report published in December 2025, the agency Dentsu Creative surveyed 4,500 people in seven countries: the US, Japan, Brazil, China, India, Spain and the UK. Here is what it found:
- 63% agree they spend a lot of time on their own;
- 38% say they are often lonely;
- 50% admit they don't really know the people in their neighbourhood (56% among Gen Z);
- 40% say online life feels so stressful that they try to switch off as much as possible.
One caveat matters straight away. This is a trends report from an advertising agency, not a scientific study. Its purpose is to help brands understand consumers, and it covers only two European countries. But its direction matches independent data, so it is worth hearing as a signal.
What has changed
Why has meeting up become harder? There is no single answer, but researchers and observers tend to point to a few factors.
"Third places" are disappearing. In the late 1980s the sociologist Ray Oldenburg gave that name to spaces that are neither home nor work: cafés, libraries, clubs, barbershops, the bench outside the building. People see each other there regularly and without needing a reason. When such places close or become too expensive, the habit of simply dropping in goes with them.
In Britain the most familiar third place is the pub — and it is under pressure. According to the British Beer and Pub Association, 295 pubs had closed for good by the end of September 2026, and the trade body expects around 360 closures for the year, about one a day.
People drink less. For many cultures the pub or bar was the default format for an evening out. In the US, Gallup found in 2026 that only 54% of adults say they drink alcohol — the lowest figure since its records began in 1939. Among 18–34-year-olds the share is 50%, down from 58% in 2023. In the Dentsu survey, half of Gen Z respondents said they avoid alcohol.
Screen fatigue and stress. In the same report, 70% agreed that modern life is so stressful they sometimes need to escape it. Online contact isn't going away, but many people feel it doesn't replace being physically present.
New formats: presence matters more than format
As old formats weaken, people look for others. Half of Dentsu's respondents (50%) said they are interested in alternative ways to socialise in person, such as book groups, running clubs or classes — 58% among Gen Z.
The most visible example is run clubs. In its report for 2025, Strava said the number of running clubs on its platform had grown 3.5 times, and that club-organised events were up by half on the year before. The company summed up the trend in the title of its press release: "Doomscrolling is out, movement is in". Here too it is worth remembering that this is the platform's own data, and it has an interest in showing growth.
What these formats share is not the activity — running, a book or a board game — but a few simple features:
- regularity: the same time every week, so nothing needs to be arranged each time;
- a shared activity: there is no need to think of something to talk about;
- a low threshold: you can come alone, without a group of friends or special skills;
- no alcohol required: you don't need a drink to relax.
That is why board games, chess clubs and puzzle evenings fit the trend so well. A game offers a ready-made reason to sit down together, and rules that take the awkwardness out of meeting someone new.
Real change or marketing?
It is worth pausing on where the slogan comes from. "Together is the new luxury" is the title of an August 2026 column by two creative directors at Dentsu Creative, published on the Argentine trade site TotalMedios. Brands are already actively selling "community": cafés with interest clubs, sportswear labels with their own running groups, apps for finding company. In the Dentsu report, more than half of respondents said they appreciate brands that engage with their communities.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing: a running group organised by a sports shop is still a way to meet people. But there are two traps.
The first is "luxury" taken literally. If being together becomes a service you have to pay for, those who most lack social ties may be left out — often people with lower incomes. The WHO estimates that loneliness is roughly twice as common in low-income countries as in high-income ones.
The second is the illusion that the problem is solved. A fashionable club once a week doesn't replace neighbours you know by name or a friend you can call in the middle of the night. New formats can be a first step, but deeper ties still take time.
What we don't know
The strongest figures in this story come from companies: an advertising agency and a sports platform. There is still little independent research on whether people are really shifting to new ways of meeting in large numbers, or whether this reduces loneliness.
Nor do we know how universal the trend is. Most of the data come from the US and a handful of large countries. In European cities with dense networks of cafés, squares and libraries, the picture may be different. And whether this is a lasting change or a fashion that fades as fast as it arrived, only time will tell.
What it means for readers
Perhaps the main point of this trend is not the slogan about luxury but a simple observation: people need not so much a reason to talk as a reason to be near each other. A regular meeting, a shared activity and the sense that someone is expecting you matter more than the format.
And one more thing: you don't need a fashionable club to be together. Sometimes it is enough to ask a neighbour for a game of chess.
Questions for discussion
- When did you last meet people "for no particular reason" — and do you have a third place in your life?
- Does a shared activity — a game, a run, a book — make it easier to get to know people than conversation alone?
- Do you see a risk in brands selling us "community"?
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