Lost for words! Proof we’re losing the art of conversation as Britons using 20 per cent fewer words than two decades ago

They say the art of conversation is dead, and psychologists have found that we now speak about 20 percent fewer words each day than we did two decades ago.

According to a study, we lose more than 300 words in our daily conversations every day; This equates to 120,000 words per year.

The biggest decline is seen among Generation Z, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, which has significant implications for the loneliness epidemic and how we communicate in the future.

Academics suggest increases in email, texting and social media may be responsible, but say there are other unexplained factors as well.

The researchers say: ‘This loss of words reflects the real conversations, big and small, that we stop having with others. It is imperative that we apply the best science to understand these slow, societal-level changes affecting our lives; especially since speaking an extra 300 words a day could offer each person a trivial way to counteract their own level of self-isolation, thus impacting our ongoing epidemic of loneliness.

‘Three hundred words a day can be the equivalent of a short conversation with a neighbor or a joke told to our loved ones.’

The study analyzed data on daily spoken words from a global sample of 2,197 men and women aged 10 to 90, based on analysis of audio recordings. The results were then compared to a 2007 study using the same methods.

In the later study, the average number of words spoken per day was 12,792, compared to 15,959 in 2007, a 20 percent decrease.

American researchers then examined each year through 2019 and found that the number of words spoken decreased by an average of 338 each day.

Academics suggest increases in email, texting and social media may be responsible, but say there are other unexplained factors as well

They say we speak 120,000 fewer words each year than the year before.

Researchers found that those under 25 lost 44 percent more words than older men and women.

Academics from the universities of Arizona and Missouri wrote in the journal Perspectives On Psychological Science: ‘When we talk less, we connect less.

‘This loss is worrying because we are already in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, where social isolation and loss of connection with others have become a problem.’

Sir Cary Cooper, professor of psychology at the University of Manchester, said: ‘We are using fewer spoken words, especially young people.

‘It’s not just digital technology. Social connections are also changing. Our face-to-face contact is decreasing.

‘But we need eye to eye. Life is all about communication, and this is beneficial to our psychological health.

‘The future doesn’t look very bright. ‘In ten years, Generation Z will talk less, their vocabularies will be smaller, and artificial intelligence will do the thinking and innovating on their behalf.’