Over the last half-century, there has been a steady decline in nearly all things social apart from social media.

From Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman. 

Just how much are the social aspects of our lives worth in terms of our well-being? Multiple studies have managed to put a dollar value on them, determining how much more money you would need to make in order to achieve the same increases in well-being. In one study, volunteering was associated with greater well-being, and for people who volunteered at least once a week, the increase in their well-being was equivalent to the increase associated with moving from a $20,000-a-year salary to a $75,000-a-year salary. A second study found that across more than 100 countries, giving to charity is related to changes in well-being equivalent to the doubling of one’s salary. Another study found having a friend whom you see on most days, compared to not having such a friend, had the same impact on well-being as making an extra $100,000 a year. Being married is also worth an extra $100,000, while being divorced is on par with having your salary slashed by $90,000. Just seeing your neighbor regularly is like making an extra $60,000. By far, the most valuable nonmonetary asset researchers examined was physical health, with “good” health compared to “not good” health equivalent to about a $400,000 salary bonus. That might seem crazy, but if you were not in good health, how much money would you be willing to give up to be in good health again? The reason I mention health is that social factors are also huge determinants of physical health. Thus social factors determine well-being directly and, because they bolster health, provide an additional indirect route to well-being.

The good news is that building more “social” into our lives is very cost-effective—getting coffee with a friend, talking to a neighbor, or volunteering won’t make your wallet light and could significantly improve your life. The bad news is that as a society, we’re blowing it. Over the last half-century, there has been a steady decline in nearly all things social apart from social media. People are significantly less likely to be married today than they were fifty years ago. We volunteer less, participate in fewer social groups, and entertain people in our “homes less often than we used to.

To me the most troubling statistics focus on our friendships. In a survey given in 1985, people were asked to list their friends in response to the question “Over the last six months, who are the people with whom you discussed matters important to you?” The most common number of friends listed was three; 59 percent of respondents listed three or more friends fitting this description. The same survey was given again in 2004. This time the most common number of friends listed was zero. And only 37 percent of respondents listed three or more friends. Back in 1985, only 10 percent indicated that they had zero confidants. In 2004, this number skyrocketed to 25 percent. One out of every four of us is walking around with no one to share our lives with. Being social makes our lives better. Yet every indication is that we are getting less social, not more.