The Dinner Table Is Becoming Obsolete in the United States

 People prefer to eat elsewhere, apparently.

.1  Eating at a dinner table is rapidly becoming obsolete for many Americans.

.2   A recent study of 1,000 individuals found that, while nearly three-quarters (72 percent) were raised in households that sat down to eat together at a table, less than half (48 percent) do so now.

.3   The table has been replaced by the couch, where 30 percent of respondents eat their meals, and the bedroom, with 17 percent of users.

.4  As Joe Pinsker wrote for the Atlantic, "To put it another way, the number of respondents who most often eat at a kitchen table nowadays is roughly the same as the number who eat either on the couch or in their bedroom."

.5  Pinsker asked a few food culture experts about their thoughts on these findings (which came from a survey conducted by a smart oven company, and thus should be viewed with a certain degree of caution); but they replied that the findings align with their own research. 

.6  They named a number of factors driving the table's growing obsolescence.

.7  Families tend to eat separately these days, often citing busy schedules, although it's not uncommon for other family members to be somewhere else in the house when someone is eating. (That strikes me as incredibly sad and lonely!)

.8  There are also more people than ever living alone. Pinsker said, "In big American cities, it’s common for almost half of households to have just one resident... Perhaps [this means] means eating dinner on the couch — or, more practically, not owning a kitchen table in the first place."