Shocking number of Gen Z shut-ins report zero face-to-face human interactions per day after COVID

COVID created a permanent class of young shut-ins, according to a stunning new report.Nearly 10% of Gen Zers said they had zero face-to-face interactions with another person in their daily life, according to an analysis of US Census data by the Financial Times.The dangerous trend was triggered by the COVID pandemic, when millions of young people were kept stuck inside during the years spent developing crucial social skills.The American Time Use Survey suggested that a shocking number of these young people — age 23 to 29 — haven’t recovered.In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, only 3% of young adults weren’t socializing face-to-face on a daily basis, but by the time COVID restrictions had eased in late 2021, that figure was almost 9%.The figure peaked at 10% in 2023, before ticking down slightly in 2024 and 2025.

And where the most socially active segement of young people saw their social lives rebound following the pandemic, for the bottom quarter, they have not.Before 2020, the most socially connected segment of young adults used to spend 87% of their day with other people, a figure that dropped to 78% during COVID restrictions, before rising to 83% as of 2025.But for the most isolated segment of the young adult population, who used to spend roughly a third of their day with others, that figure collapsed to essentially zero during the pandemic and has stayed there ever since.The annual American Time Use Survey also found Americans are spending more time on screens than they were in 2015, with daily time spent on computers and social media rising from 25 minutes a decade ago to 37 minutes in 2025.Teenagers spent the most time on these pursuits, averaging 90 minutes per day on screens.Also astonishing was that more than a third (35%) of those employed said they did some or all of their work from home in 2025, over three years after COVID restrictions started to eased....