Time in social activities has diminishing returns for subjective well-being: In the US, socializing more than 2.5 hours a day did not predict higher happiness

The Declining Marginal Utility of Social Time for Subjective Well-Being. Kostadin Kushlev et al. Journal of Research in Personality, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.04.004

Highlights
•    Time in social activities has diminishing returns for subjective well-being (SWB).
•    Across 166 nations, spending over 3 hours a day with others predicts no higher SWB.
•    In the US, socializing more than 2.5 hours a day did not predict higher happiness.
•    Quadratic effects explain substantial variance over linear effects alone.
•    These diminishing returns are explained by inter- and intra-domain processes.

Abstract: Are people who spend more time with others always happier than those who spend less time in social activities? Across four studies with more than 250,000 participants, we show that social time has declining marginal utility for subjective well-being. In Study 1 (N=243,075), we use the Gallup World Poll with people from 166 countries, and in Study 2 (N=10,387) the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), to show that social time has declining returns for well-being. In Study 3a (N=168) and Study 3b (N=174), we employ the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to provide initial evidence for both intra-domain (principle of diminishing satisfaction) and inter-domain mechanisms (principle of satisfaction limits). We discuss implications for theory, research methodology, and practice.

Keywords: subjective well-being; social interaction; social relationships; psychological needs; life balance; principle of diminishing satisfaction; principle of satisfaction limits; marginal utility