A new study by psychologist Matthias Mehl reveals that people speak approximately 338 fewer words per day each year, declining from around 16,000 words in 2005 to 12,700 by 2019. The trend, discovered while replicating gender research across 22 studies, reflects a broader loss of incidental face-to-face conversations as technology and self-service options replace human interaction. While texting and social media may compensate in raw word output, spoken communication carries unique qualities like presence and tone that typed words cannot replicate.