We're Talking Less Face-to-Face. Here's What Research Found

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Arizona have found that people are speaking to each other in person much less than they used to. Between 2005 and 2019, the average number of words people spoke aloud to other humans dropped by 28 percent.

The numbers tell a clear story. In 2005, the average person spoke about 16,600 words a day to other people. By 2019, that had fallen to about 11,900 words a day. That's roughly 340 fewer words per person each year. Younger people saw an even steeper drop — those under 25 lost about 450 words per day annually, while older adults lost about 310.

How Researchers Measured This

The study combined data from 22 earlier research projects that tracked over 2,000 people. Researchers used a tool called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), which is basically a small device that captures bits of audio throughout the day as people go about their normal lives. This approach is more reliable than just asking people to remember and report what they said, which often leads to inaccurate answers.

The 14-year period the researchers looked at is important: it's the same stretch of time when smartphones became common, texting exploded, and apps started replacing face-to-face transactions like ordering food or handling customer service.

What's Driving the Change

Three main shifts explain the decline. First, apps have taken over jobs that used to require talking to someone. Ordering food or arranging services online means you're texting a form instead of calling or speaking to a person. Second, text messaging and messaging apps have replaced phone calls for routine planning and casual conversation. Third, people are spending more time on digital activities — scrolling social media, watching videos — and less time in face-to-face settings.

It's important to note that total communication hasn't declined. People are still communicating just as much, or more. They're just doing it through screens and typing instead of talking. Text-based messages across all platforms have grown during the same period, even though it's hard to count exact numbers.

What This Means for Work

These findings matter particularly for workplaces. Most organizations now rely heavily on tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and video calls to coordinate work, especially as remote work has grown more common. The research suggests this shift toward digital communication may be more significant than people realized.

Age differences stand out in the findings. Younger workers, who've grown up with texting and instant messaging, show larger drops in spoken conversation. Older workers still rely more on voice communication. Companies building new ways for teams to work together may need to think about how these different preferences affect collaboration — and whether one approach works for everyone.

The broader context here is worth considering: whether the shift away from verbal communication toward text-based channels actually changes how well we work together, or whether it's simply a change in medium. The research documents that the change is real and accelerating among younger people. Whether that's ultimately good or concerning depends partly on factors the study wasn't designed to measure — team productivity, relationship quality, innovation rates.

A Pattern We've Seen Before

This isn't the first time technology has reshuffled how people communicate. When telephones became common, they reduced face-to-face conversation but created new ways to talk across distances. Email did something similar — people stopped writing letters and switched to digital messages. Each shift felt momentous at the time; each became normal.

I watched a version of this with my own children. My daughter got a smartphone in middle school around 2012; my son didn't get one until high school a few years later. The difference in their communication habits was striking. My daughter and her friends coordinated complex plans through text messages, while my son's group still relied on phone calls for anything more complicated than a simple confirmation. Neither approach was right or wrong — they just reflected when and how they'd learned to communicate.

What Happens Next

New voice-enabled devices — smart speakers, voice assistants, AI chatbots that can hold conversations — might actually push this trend in a different direction. If people start talking to their devices more, the amount of spoken words in their day could creep back up. But talking to a machine is quite different from talking to a person, so it's not clear whether that would reverse the documented shift.

Companies planning how teams will communicate in coming years should probably plan for both camps: younger workers who prefer typing and instant messages, and older workers who still naturally reach for the phone. A system that lets people choose — text when they want speed and clarity, voice when they want nuance and connection — probably works best for everyone.

The research provides a baseline. As voice AI gets better and virtual reality opens up new ways to interact, it will be worth measuring whether people actually shift back toward spoken communication or continue moving toward text. That will tell us something important: whether we're simply choosing a different communication tool, or whether we're fundamentally changing how we relate to each other.