Every year, humans speak less and less. That’s bad news, even if you hate mindless chit-chat

Silent retreats are all the rage; hotel guests are embracing ‘hushpitatility’. But won’t this leave us more isolated? Are we becoming too quiet? As a joyless, intolerant shrew, my kneejerk answer is a predictable “if only” (writing this on a train full of happy holidaymakers isn’t helping). But am I wrong? I find myself confronted with evidence that people are taking the expression “say less” literally. A study recently reported in the Atlantic found that daily spoken word counts declined by ...

By Emma Beddington