More expensive baseball game tickets and heftier bar tabs caused Americans to cut back on entertainment in 2022, and 2023 looks to be as dull.

Seventy-one percent of Americans say inflation impacted their entertainment budget in 2022, and 59% turned down some activities with friends and family because of money, a survey of 2,290 people by Solitaire Bliss found.

By category, 81% spent less on movie theater visits, 74% cut back on concerts, 69% went less often to sporting events, and 64% visited the theater or comedy club less frequently.

However, 35% increased what they spent on streaming services in 2022. They also shelled out more for restaurants, bars and clubs (34%); gambling (30%); concerts and festivals (29%); and classes and workshops, like dance and cooking (28%).

Americans said they will continue to cut back on entertainment spending in 2023, with the top five categories getting trimmed being:

- Restaurants, bars & clubs
- Gambling
- Streaming services & live TV
- Concerts and festivals
- Sporting events

The average American household spends $2,628 on entertainment a year, with the budget increasing the more people there are living under one roof. Singles spend an average of $2,007 a year on entertainment; couples, $2,812; and families, $2,984.

Diversions become more meaningful to Americans during periods of strife. Being able to escape into a movie theater during the Great Depression for just 25 cents, for instance, spurred the Golden Age of Hollywood.

People living during that time also enjoyed speakeasies, dance halls, good, old-fashioned books and listening to the radio.

Splurging even just a little on entertainment can help people balance out worries during periods of economic difficulties. While unemployment in the U.S. is at a 54-year low of 3.4%, hundreds of thousands of people have been, and continue to be, laid off, particularly in technology and banking — and fears of a recession in the U.S. are running high.

Inflation may have ticked down from a peak of 9.1% last June to its current 6.4%, but food, housing and energy inflation is still in the double digits — and most people, if they have gotten a raise, are not seeing increases anywhere that high.

We all need to have a little fun, once in a while.