> SURVEY: 18-29 yr olds spend their Friday & Saturday nights at home alone, because they're broke and have no friends.

Why Gen Z is spending weekends alone in their PJs instead going out to have fun: study

Aug. 1, 2026

America’s youngest adults are spending Friday and Saturday nights on the couch — not because they’re antisocial, but because they’re flat broke, burned out and just plain lonely.

A new Harris Poll survey paints a surprisingly bleak picture of Gen Z’s social life, revealing a generation of prime-of-their-lives 20-somethings who desperately want real-world friendships but often can’t afford the price of going out, and lack human-to-human skills.

The numbers are striking.

More than half of Gen Z adults (51%) say they feel lonely on a typical weekend — the highest rate of any generation and a staggering 37 percentage points higher than 62-to-80-year-old Baby Boomers.

Nearly half (49%) admit they don’t have enough friends to spend time with in person, while 65% say they now experience their social lives more through their phones than face-to-face.

One of the biggest reasons Gen Z stays home is financial, while the other half is for health purposes.

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Almost half (49%) say they stay in to save money, while 47% say they need the weekend to recharge physically and mentally after a stressful week.

For many, nights out have become a luxury they simply can’t justify.

More than two-thirds (68%) say going out isn’t worth the damage it does to their wallet, while 62% admit they avoid making weekend plans altogether because they don’t want to regret spending the money afterward.

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71% say they feel they’re missing out on the kinds of in-person experiences older generations enjoyed when they were their age.

Lonely Zoomers admit they envy Millennials, Gen Xers and Boomers — who learned to negotiate real-life relationships, social skills Zoomers were never required to master in the digital age.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/01/us-news/g … going-out/ [Questionable Source (Bagz)]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/genera … r-AA29cNFu