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Elon Musk, who bought the social-media site Twitter in October for $44 billion, is wondering whether people should use social media less.
After a Twitter user tweeted that "anti-social tendencies are making people more lonely," Musk responded: "Maybe we should spend less time on social media … ?"
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2023
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from Insider.
The user who Musk responded to cited a 2021 study by the Survey Center on American Life that found that people's social circles had shrunk over the last three decades and that the "friendship decline" was more pronounced among men.
Musk himself is an avid Twitter user. He tweeted that response just after 1 a.m. ET Thursday, followed by another reply shortly after 1:30 a.m. He was back to tweeting around 9 a.m.
An Insider analysis in November found that Musk was tweeting on average once per hour in the three weeks after he bought Twitter.
He was tweeting — including replies and retweets — even more after purchasing the site, the analysis found. Replies to other users made up the largest share of his Twitter actions both before and after the purchase.
Last year, Musk told the "Full Send" podcast that he wanted to cut the "terrible habit" of "immediately checking my phone" in the morning.
"I [need] to work out and be in better shape," Musk said. "So, I'm going to switch from immediately looking at my phone as soon as I wake up to working out for at least 20 minutes — then I'll look at my phone."
It's unclear if he's stuck to his resolution.
