In adolescence we spend the most time with our parents, siblings, and friends; as we enter adulthood we spend more time with our co-workers, partners, and children; and in our later years we spend an increasing amount of time alone.

this doesn’t necessarily mean we are lonely; rather, it helps reveal the complex nature of social connections and their impact on our well-being.

The data comes from time-use surveys, where people are asked to list all the activities that they perform over a full day, and the people who were there during each activity.

Americans spend much of their time with partners, children and, unsurprisingly, co-workers.

In terms of the diversity of interactions, this chart suggests that the number of people with whom we interact is highest around 40

above 40, people spend an increasing amount of time alone.

Today nearly 4 out of every 10 Americans who are older than 89 years old live alone.

Spending time alone is not the same as feeling lonely.

surveys that track the same individuals over time found that after age 50 – which is the earliest age of participants in the analysis – loneliness tended to decrease, until about 75, after which it began to increase again.

We often tend to look at the amount of time spent with others as a marker of social well-being; but the quality of time spent with others, and our expectations, matter even more for our feelings of connection and loneliness.