  The COVID-19 pandemic, with millions of Americans compelled to stay home and
work remotely, presented an opportunity to explore the dynamics of social
relationships in a predominantly remote world. Using the 1972-2022 General
Social Surveys, we found that the pandemic significantly disrupted the patterns
of social gatherings with family, friends, and neighbors, but only momentarily.
Drawing from the nationwide ego-network surveys of 41,033 Americans from 2020
to 2022, we found that the size and composition of core networks remained
stable, though political homophily increased among non-kin relationships
compared to previous surveys between 1985 and 2016. Critically, heightened
remote communication during the initial phase of the pandemic was associated
with increased interaction with the same partisans, though political homophily
decreased during the later phase of the pandemic when in-person contacts
increased. These results underscore the crucial role of social institutions and
social gatherings in promoting spontaneous encounters with diverse political
backgrounds.
