Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson's new essay, 'The Death of the American Host', argues that Americans have largely stopped inviting people into their homes. Time-use data show socializing at home and hosting guests has declined sharply, with people increasingly staying in alone. Readers are debating the causes, citing screens, loneliness, cost of living, and the loss of hospitality habits.

Writer Derek Thompson argues that Americans have stopped hosting each other for dinner, tracing what he calls the death of the American host. The essay, now heavily discussed online, links the decline of home entertaining to rising loneliness, shrinking social ties and the migration of social life to restaurants, screens and paid experiences rather than the dinner table.