Surveys of the time budgets of
average Americans in 1965, 1975,
and 1985, in which national samples
of men and women recorded
every single activity undertaken
during the course of a day, imply
that the time we spend on informal
socializing and visiting is
down (perhaps by one quarter)
since 1965, and that the time we
devote to clubs and organizations
is down even more sharply (probably
by roughly half) over this
period