What are the social costs of a digital European society?

According to the European Commission, around 70% of European citizens use social networks. Portugal is the country where people spend the most hours per day on these networks, with an average use of approximately 8h per day (Cunha, 2022). Amongst other reasons, people use social networks during idle times, to fill in the void and boredom, as a way to connect to people, to get informed in a fast and instantaneous way and as a form of entertainment. This study will look specifically at the socialisation aspect of Instagram between people and how the increase of digital socialisation and thus decrease of face to face interactions impacts the economy (e.g. take-away restaurants), law (e.g. DSA and DMA), and democracy. In his seminal work Putnam (2000) "Bowling Alone", argues that television decreased traditional ways of connecting with our communities, what about now when people spend 8h per day on their phones? Hence the research question guiding this study is: What are the social costs of a decrease in people’s face to face interactions in Europe, economically, legally, socially and therefore democratically? Data for this study is collected through in-depth interviews with Portuguese citizens from 20-41 years old. Portugal was selected because it is the European country in which people spend the most time using social networks, being Instagram the most used social network (Datareportal - Cunha, 2022). Since Instagram is a Very Large Online Platform, the findings of this study can help policymakers to better regulate these platforms and develop social strategies and programmes to mitigate its effects. We hope that this study will add a significant discussion on the new sociological perspectives on the EU helping to understand Europe as a sociocultural space and what are the a European identity and culture is emerging.