Decline of speech: are we becoming cold and silent beings?
In 2005, people spoke an average of 16,632 words per day. By 2019, that number had fallen to 11,900 — a 28% decline — according to researchers from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the University of Arizona. The trend is partly linked to the pandemic era — quarantines, curfews, remote work — and is expected to intensify with the growing dependence on conversational AI agents. Should we be concerned? Culturemania spoke with two Quebec experts to assess the cognitive and social risks involved.
Over the course of a year, this reduction in speech amounts to nearly 120,000 fewer words spoken per person. Among the factors driving the decline are the omnipresence of technology and an increasingly individualistic culture.
As more interactions move online, loneliness could worsen, warn psychologists interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Speaking less may also weaken the cognitive “chess game” that conversation represents, particularly for infants, who are now spoken to less frequently.
Impacts on health and human development
Speech-language pathologist and media communicator Agathe Tupula Kabola is not surprised by these findings: “Communication today is faster, more instantaneous, fragmented, and mediated. We interact more through screens, which changes the way we relate to one another. Think of the everyday moments of small talk we no longer experience — replacing cashiers with self-checkout stations, or using GPS instead of asking a passerby for directions,” she explains.
“Human communication plays a fundamental role in maintaining our mental, cognitive, emotional, and social health.”
For the expert, this transformation in the way people communicate has both direct and indirect effects on health and empathy, while also affecting child development.
“Human communication plays a fundamental role in maintaining our mental, cognitive, emotional, and social health (…) studies have shown that the quality of our social interactions affects physical well-being, because social isolation puts us at risk of health problems, much like smoking, cardiovascular disease, or a sedentary lifestyle.”
She also raises concerns about children’s language development: “I also question the consequences for children’s language development in two scenarios: when a child passively hears words through a screen instead of engaging in real interaction with someone — which does not carry the same value — or when a parent’s attention is absorbed by screens instead of being invested in exchanges with their child.”
Still, Agathe Tupula Kabola emphasizes the positive side of technology: “We should also recognize the positive effects of technology, particularly during the pandemic, when it helped maintain relationships, create communities, and express emotions in different ways. The problem lies in the imbalance — when technology replaces human interaction instead of complementing it.”
Beyond language
Kanica Saphan, an interpersonal relationship expert also consulted by our newsroom, offers a more pointed perspective: “We speak 28% less, yet complain 100% more about being misunderstood.”
“Technology has allowed us to avoid difficult conversations. And like any muscle that isn’t exercised, emotional courage atrophies,” says the founder of Sofa Sexologique and author of Manuel de survie dans la jungle du dating.
“Technology didn’t kill communication — it killed the courage communication requires.”
“In my practice, I already see it: people have their real conversations through text messages. Speaking less means exercising less of this fundamentally human ability — navigating the discomfort of a real conversation. What I observe in therapy is that technology has provided an emergency exit for difficult emotions, and people are arriving increasingly disarmed when facing direct human interaction. In a society already hyper-individualistic, this fuels the loneliness crisis rather than curing it.”
For the therapist trained in sexology, the issue goes even deeper: “Technology didn’t kill communication — it killed the courage communication requires. We speak less, expose ourselves less, and then wonder why we feel more alone. The human soft skills — empathy, presence, vulnerability — will become the most valuable abilities in the age of AI, and those are precisely the things we are currently unlearning.”
