Charlie Harker had high hopes for the university.
The Lebanon, Ohio, resident had planned to meet people through clubs and dorms before starting her freshman year in 2023. She expected there to be an open, lively atmosphere conducive to making friends. She will soon find a companion.
“And then I got to school,” says the 21-year-old senior at the University of Cincinnati. “I didn’t know anybody on my floor. Nobody opened the door. Nobody was going to talk to you.” The fun, companion-filled campus life she had been promised by both her family and pop culture turned out to be, at least to some degree, a relic of the past.
Harker’s college experience is pretty common these days. From 2003 to 2025, socializing and communicating time among 20- to 24-year-olds in the United States decreased by 52%, with leisure time decreasing from an average of 64 minutes per day to an average of just over 30 minutes per day. During the same period, leisure social time among 15- to 19-year-olds decreased by 32% to 38 minutes, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Stephen Rogelberg, chancellor’s professor of organizational science, management and psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said students these days view school as more “transactional” than in the past. “I go there, take classes, and then I leave.”
That’s a problem for a variety of reasons. By not meeting in class or stopping for each other in the hallway, young people can miss out on opportunities to develop both friendships and social skills that are essential for long-term life and career success. For example, making small talk can help build personal and professional relationships down the road, says Christy Patten, dean of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
It’s also important to build confidence. This comes from both successfully navigating social situations and making painful mistakes. Without such habits, the campus and life would become more closed and barren.
“If we want a future where children and adults understand how to socialize with each other, parents, school systems, and perhaps even legislators will have to address this issue,” says Lance Garrison, dean of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
“The trajectory we’re on right now is toward increased isolation, increased loneliness, and increased anxiety.”
Some students and schools are tackling anti-social issues on campus head-on. CNBC Make It interviewed 15 students, educators, and mental health experts to discuss how we got here and where we’re going.
“I think a lot of people are used to not dating.”
Today’s college students are already socially disadvantaged long before they set foot on campus.
Not only have they been forced to quarantine during their middle and high school years due to the pandemic, but many have fewer places to meet in real life, as shopping malls and movie theaters, traditional gathering places for young people, have closed in recent years. “Many of them haven’t had to flex the muscles of how to socialize in person,” said Andrew Fishman, a Chicago-based therapist.
Charlie Harker.
Provided by Charlie Harker
For some teenagers, not being able to connect meant a new norm. “I think a lot of people get used to not hanging out with people after school,” Harker says of his high school days.
Some people become very afraid of approaching people. Garrison says that the less you have the opportunity to talk to new people, the more anxious you will be about participating in those types of activities.
On campus, it can also mean higher rates of loneliness. When asked in an August 2026 CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll how often they felt lonely during their college years, a quarter of 18- to 34-year-olds said “always” or “often,” compared to just 14% of 35- to 64-year-olds. The modeled error estimate for this study was plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.
The cafeteria is “people sitting alone with AirPods watching YouTube”
When you finally arrive at the hallowed halls of your university, many students are constantly connected to their devices. Often they are looking down at a screen or engrossed in what’s going on in their headphones.
“Nobody really talks to each other that much,” Carla Berrut, 19, a third-year undergraduate at the University of Houston, reported before class. Jean-Antoine, 21, a senior at Loyola Marymount University, has a similar assessment. In the cafeteria, “more people are sitting alone with AirPods watching YouTube than having conversations,” he says.
Even if you go to the trouble of connecting offline, you are often blocked. Northeastern University sophomore Franco Geldart, 20, joined the cooking club during his freshman year. He found it a little awkward to start conversations with people. Often, he says, “I would sit there for an hour and not talk to anyone.”
Most of the students CNBC Make It spoke to attended the party several times a year. Some describe it as an event to attend and leave with friends, rather than a fluid opportunity to engage with new people.
The trajectory we are currently on is towards increased isolation, increased loneliness, and increased anxiety.
Lance Garrison
Dean, School of Professional Psychology, School of Chicago
When asked how often they strike up or start conversations with strangers at school, 31% of Gen Zers said “rarely” or “never,” compared to 26% of Millennials and 22% of Gen Xers, according to a CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll.
Another new element of today’s campuses is the large number of online platforms. You’re asked to really do anything on that platform, making even the most mundane decisions scary.
Yik Yak and Fizz are anonymous digital bulletin boards. Fizz alone has performed on more than 800 college campuses in the United States, according to his website. Many schools also have dedicated Barstool Sports Instagram pages, often affiliated with popular sports blogs but not with the school. All three may include posts that poke fun at individual students’ behavior.
Harker remembers going to a football game during his freshman year of college and losing his friend who came with him. She was paralyzed, afraid to make friends with people who rejected her, and even more afraid of being photographed sitting alone at a game.
“If I was sitting there alone, would I be on Barstool’s page?” she says she thought. What would be the social impact in that case?
Yik Yak, Fizz and Barstool Sports did not respond to CNBC Make It’s requests for comment.
“We’re bringing back home parties.”
Let me be clear: young people are still making connections on campus. they understand it. Some are experiencing the same level of social mobility as previous generations.
And some are seeing what’s happening on campus and taking action.
Geldart is working on applying to join Northeastern’s new club, known as a wild card, this year. We will be partnering with existing clubs to do one-off drop-ins where members from each club will be randomly paired for a project.
“It’s just to get people talking,” he says.
At New York University, students have spearheaded a campus-wide initiative called NYU IRL, centered around connectivity in the age of technology. In collaboration with department chairs, faculty, staff, and graduate students, NYU’s IRL projects include a phone-free space, a phone breakup challenge with Katherine Price, author of How to Break Up Over the Phone, and a video series on how to make small talk. More than 1,000 students have participated in the phone breakup challenge alone.
Mr. Harker met a friend at a football game where he had lost a friend, and the two ended up going on a date to each other’s games. She joined a sorority and now lives in a house with some friends.
Mr. Harker is committed to increasing opportunities for people to meet. For example, she remembers attending a house party during her freshman year of college. “It was the best experience ever,” she says. It was an easy and casual way to meet people. Harker and her roommates are now trying to recreate that experience.
“We’ve got this,” she says, “we’re going to bring back house parties.”
