Transformation of social relationships in COVID-19 America: Remote communication may amplify political echo chambers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, with millions of Americans compelled to stay home and work remotely, presented an opportunity to explore the dynamics of social relationships in a predominantly remote world. Using the 1972-2022 General Social Surveys, we found that the pandemic significantly disrupted the patterns of social gatherings with family, friends, and neighbors, but only momentarily. Drawing from the nationwide ego-network surveys of 41,033 Americans from 2020 to 2022, we found that the size and composition of core networks remained stable, though political homophily increased among non-kin relationships compared to previous surveys between 1985 and 2016. Critically, heightened remote communication during the initial phase of the pandemic was associated with increased interaction with the same partisans, though political homophily decreased during the later phase of the pandemic when in-person contacts increased. These results underscore the crucial role of social institutions and social gatherings in promoting spontaneous encounters with diverse political backgrounds.