"Humans are social animals, and psychological studies repeatedly show that people are, on average, happier when they engage in a shared activity with another person compared to doing it alone. However, most of these studies focused on only one or a few activities. Thus, it is unclear whether all daily activities are better when conducted with another person or whether there might be specific activities that people enjoy more when being alone than when being with another person."
"The survey is conducted by the United States Census Bureau over several years and includes telephone interview data on how people spend their days. In the study, data from the years 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2021 were analysed, as in these years, volunteers who participated in the survey were asked to rate their happiness during their daily activities on a scale from zero to six."
Data from the American Time Use Survey (2010, 2012, 2013, 2021) include telephone interviews where volunteers rated momentary happiness (0–6) across daily activities and whether activities were shared. Analysis across more than eighty activity types found that volunteers consistently reported higher happiness when any activity was done with another person rather than alone. Social presence produced widespread well-being gains across activity categories, with the largest benefits observed for eating, drinking, traveling, running, and walking. The pattern suggests social company increases momentary positive affect during routine tasks across diverse contexts.
Read at Psychology Today
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