New research shows Americans have fewer friends than in the past, and are less likely to have a best friend.

• Why it matters: At a time of excruciating mental and societal stress, this is another sign we're breaking apart. And the friendship drought could get worse with more people working remotely or hybrid-ly.

Here are two key findings, from May polling by the Survey Center on American Life, a project of the American Enterprise Institute:

• Our number of close friends has declined considerably from 30 years ago, when 33% of U.S. adults reported having 10 or more close friends, not counting relatives. Now, 13% say that.
• In 1990, 75% of us said we had a "best friend." This year, 59% said that.

AEI senior fellow Daniel Cox, who conducted the research, told me that as he's discussed the findings on podcasts and online, people get it: "Everyone has their own anecdote."

• "We realize the importance of friendship, and we're just not investing the time," he said, adding that it's another way the nation is "vulnerable."

I got a different lens from Kate Murphy, a Texan who is author of "You're Not Listening," and wrote for the N.Y. Times (subscription), "The Pandemic Shrank Our Social Circles. Let’s Keep It That Way."

• "People want fewer and better friends," Murphy emails. Pre-pandemic, "we were in the grips of a loneliness epidemic. That loneliness wasn’t necessarily from being alone. In fact, it was often a feeling of alienation while in the presence of other people."

I love this: "You can be friendly with a lot of people but you can only have a few good friends," Murphy added. "An occasional lunch, back slap at a cocktail party or exchange of texts is sociability but not social support."  

[W]hen your social life becomes a mad dash between events driven by FOMO,  you don’t have the time or emotional energy to develop those truly meaningful relationships and attachments that are essential to human health and happiness. And, of course, engaging with people digitally is a poor facsimile. The pandemic showed us that for sure.

Context: This trend is nothing new, of course. Robert Putnam's bestselling "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," was published in 2000 — 21 years ago.

• Go deeper: Explore the data.

Above: Between events, divers squeeze in practice. Divers from different countries (a UN of divers!) — from different heights and disciplines — all jump. Looks like a free-for-all — a wonder they don't hit each other.

Axios' Ina Fried writes from Tokyo: Today was a chance to venture beyond my comfort zone of softball and soccer.

• I decided to check out the U.S. men’s water polo thriller against Japan (Spoiler: Result), since I flew here from San Francisco with them. Not my event: I spilled an entire bottle of water in my backpack.
• Somehow, by the grace of the Olympic gods, my laptop is unscathed. Canon reps are here, and I'll get my camera and lenses checked in the morning.
• While at the aquatics center, I ventured next door and managed to see the last couple minutes of synchronized diving — and got the OK to stay for a set of swimming heats later in the evening.

But my favorite stop was watching the diving practice between sessions (photo above) — something you never see on TV.

• 🏀 5 events to watch today. ... Axios Olympics Dashboard.

126 Team USA athletes are from California, which is more than twice as many as second-place Florida (51). Colorado (34), Texas (31) and New York (28) round out the top five, Jeff Tracy writes for Axios Sports.

• Oldest: 57-year-old equestrian Phillip Dutton is making his seventh Olympics appearance.
• Youngest: 15-year-old swimmer Katie Grimes is the youngest U.S. Olympian — Summer or Winter — since Katie Ledecky in 2012.

Click on our interactive cartogram.

In a takeout on the vagaries of returning to office life, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription) this nugget from Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati:

[S]ome meetings now start with employees volunteering their vaccination status, several employees say.

Former President Trump spoke in Phoenix yesterday at a "Rally To Protect Our Elections," sponsored by Turning Point Action.

• Fact check

A senior administration official told reporters that during talks in China beginning today, Deputy SecState Wendy Sherman will "underscore that we do not want that stiff and sustained competition to veer into conflict":

• "This is why the U.S. wants to ensure that there are guardrails and parameters in place to responsibly manage the relationship."

Why it matters: There’s little hope for a breakthrough on contentious issues at the moment. But agreements can be reached on how to avoid miscalculation and manage escalation.

What we're watching, from Reuters: "Sherman's talks follow several combative months since the countries' first senior diplomatic meeting under President Joe Biden's administration in March."

• "If the talks go reasonably well, ... they could help set the stage for an eventual meeting between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, possibly on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Italy in October."

A date hasn't been settled on, but White House senior adviser Anita Dunn, as long planned, will return next month to SKDK, the powerhouse Democratic consulting firm she co-founded.

• The N.Y. Times' Annie Karnie writes (subscription) that the departure will leave a big hole in President Biden's small inner circle:

Ms. Dunn has prepped the president for every interview and news conference since she took over his campaign and driven the administration’s buttoned-up approach to dealing with the news media. She is widely credited with elevating women to senior positions in the West Wing. And she is adamantly opposed to Mr. Biden regularly taking questions from reporters, which she believes does little to advance his agenda. She prefers town hall events.

Dr. K.H. Sancheti — a pioneering orthopedic surgeon in India who has performed 55,000+ surgeries and trained generations of doctors — scheduled one last surgery yesterday before retiring on his 85th birthday.

• "I have been working continuously and hence, before officially retiring from surgical practice, I will perform a small surgery," the doctor, known affectionately as KHS, told The Indian Express.

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