Social interaction yields diminishing and then negative happiness returns past fortnightly

Evidence

If monthly club meetings are good, are daily club meetings thirty times better? The answer is no. Figure 88 shows what economists might call the “declining marginal productivity” of social interaction with respect to happiness. The biggest happiness returns to volunteering, clubgoing, and entertaining at home appear to come between “never” and “once a month.” There is very little gain in happiness after about one club meeting (or party or volunteer effort) every three weeks. After fortnightly encounters, the marginal correlation of additional social interaction with happiness is actually negative—another finding that is consistent with common experience! — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1166

Categorization

• XREF: The inverted-U of social contact against happiness resonates with the over-connectedness theme in your noise/silence sources where constant social presence becomes its own burden.