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The case for third places

Seven studies on where people spend time together, built from public data and published as each one finishes.

The friendship recession: 23 years of time use
How has the time Americans spend with friends, alone and socializing changed since 2003? Did it fall for everyone or only for some ages? And what lines up with it in time?
60.0 (2003) to 26.5 (2025)Average minutes per day spent with friends
Study 01Published
Phones, social media and teen mental health: a specification curve
Is heavy social media use tied to worse mental health among U.S. high school students? How sure can we be, and how big is the gap next to other things in a teenager's life?
33.3%High school students with persistent sadness or hopelessness
Study 02Published
What connection is worth: loneliness, health and Sacramento
How strongly is social connection tied to health and survival? How common is loneliness in the U.S. and in Sacramento County, and how many Sacramento adults does that represent?
32.1%Adults who feel lonely always usually or sometimes
Study 03Published
Third place supply: what we have, what we lost, where we spend our time
Has the U.S. lost its third places, the spots outside home and work where people gather? Which kinds of places grew and which shrank since 1998, nationally and in Sacramento County? And do Americans still use the ones that remain?
-40% (1.16 to 0.70)Change in civic and social organizations per 10000 residents
Study 04Published
Civic life and loneliness: counties and Sacramento ZIPs
Do places with more volunteering, more civic groups and more cross-class friendships report less loneliness? How does Sacramento's civic life compare, and which Sacramento ZIPs stand out?
38.4% vs 33.3%Loneliness in lowest vs highest volunteering county bins
Study 05Published
Sacramento opportunity map: loneliness, places to gather, and who to call first
Which Sacramento County neighborhoods combine high loneliness with few places to gather within a short walk? Where do lonely adults cluster? And which venues should FourthSpace contact first?
about 475,000Estimated adults who feel lonely at least sometimes (tract sum)
Study 06Published
The second place went quiet: remote work and daily company
How much of American work moved home, and how much did it stay there? What does a remote workday do to the time people spend around others? And where does Sacramento stand, given its large state workforce and the July 2026 return-to-office order?
57 vs 423Minutes with anyone outside the household on home vs workplace workdays
Study 07Published

Every study uses at least three public datasets.

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