Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday March 04 2018, @04:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the I'm-still-a-few-short dept.

Friends make you happy, healthy, and they'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour. But how many of them do you need? Turns out the show Friends had the science all figured out.

Back in the early 90s, British anthropologist Dr. Robin Dunbar came to an interesting conclusion: humans could likely only maintain social relationships with an average of 148 individuals due to the size of our brain's neocortex, or what's known as Dunbar's Number. More social information processing demands requires more cognitive resources, and we only have so much brain power. Basically, we tend to top out at having 150 meaningful relationships in our lives, whether they're family, friends, or casual acquaintances. Your Facebook might have hundreds or thousands of "friends," but a good chunk of them, if not most, are out of mind.

Later on, Dunbar's research led to the concept of "Dunbar's layers", where the emotional closeness between individuals was taken into account. This meant that your relationships looked more like layers instead of a cloud of 150 people. The closest layer has three to five people, the next layer has 15 people, then 50, and so on. That inner layer is what makes up your "vital friendships," or your inner circle of close friends. These are people that you should have in your life to meet up with regularly, talk about personal matters, and maintain a strong emotional connection. In the show Friends, each main character—Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Monica, and Chandler—these five people in their life, making it a pretty decent model to follow on a biological and sociological level. If you can manage to maintain three to five close friendships in the same way, you're far more likely be content. After all, who wouldn't be better off with people who will always be there for you?

https://lifehacker.com/this-is-how-many-friends-you-need-to-be-happy-1823425885

Do you agree with this premise ? If yes, where do you stand on the "number of friends" scale ?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:10AM (7 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:10AM (#647484) Homepage

    Sounds right in my case, except that I have an inner sanctum of 5 (some of whom I've known since before high school) and a next layer of 15ish, but nothing else after that by choice. I enjoy bullshitting with the anonymous folks here but that's something I can walk away from and come back to at will.

    Said this before many times, but if people can't be assed to call, text, IM, e-mail, or snail-mail me; then they are not worth worrying about as I have no social media/online presence. As kind of an introvert socializing can be exhausting and I get more than a day's worth at work and can't tolerate more than 3 full days (like, when I'm staying with them) with even my closest friends. Nothing personal.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:54AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:54AM (#647510)

    You've got a friend? What's that like?

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @06:43AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @06:43AM (#647525)

      Eth has a friend. It is like in that movie, with James Stewart, you know, the six foot tall rabbit, a Pooka, from Norse mythology, and being ethanol fueled. Nobody else can see them, but that does not mean they are not there! Fair Winds, Ethanol_Fueled!

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 04 2018, @11:36AM

        Norse?! Harvey and all his kin are most definitely celtic.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @09:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @09:54PM (#647735)

        I really miss comedian Richard Jeni[1] AKA Platypus Man.

        He had a routine where 2 people are seeing if they are compatible and they put their cards on the table, comparing how psychotic they are.
        Imaginary friends come into play. [google.com]

        [1] His suicide at age 49 is another reason that I don't favor the ready availability of firearms to USAians.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday March 04 2018, @06:44AM (2 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday March 04 2018, @06:44AM (#647528) Homepage

      The easy answer is being able to talk to them like I talk to you all here on SN, only in real-life, and get approval for it even if there are disagreements. The kinda people you can talk to in real life with no filter. Of course, those are good friends, there are the crappier friends who wouldn't tolerate A. Wyatt Mann drawings very well and believe in gun control because CNN tells them to.

      • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:06PM (#647658)

        So you really ARE a klan member!

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @03:29AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @03:29AM (#647843)

        I had to look up Wyatt Mann, thinking I would get some post-modern art. A very nostalgic surprise to see comics from my middle school years. I always thought it was just pre-color Benjamin Grrrison mockups.

        I don't even believe, but all that comes to mind is "God Bless." Funny stuff.