The Friendship Recession: What Happened to our Friends?

I read an article years ago.

I think I was a teenager, but you know, sometimes you read something and it kind of sticks with you.

And it was an interview with Sophia Lauren, the actress.

She's still alive, but some people may not have really heard much about her, but she said, that very few people have more than just a very few friends that are lifelong friends because it takes a great deal of time to make and nurture a friendship over the years.

And so she said value those friendships because they're worth keeping.

And don't expect that you will have a lot of close friends because it takes so much time to develop.

But I guess studies have been done on this.

It takes roughly about 200 hours to make a close friend.

And then a lot of times, you know, we live in a world where people move.

And they have other, you know, jobs and things that, you know, the consequence is you have to move somewhere.

And I mean into another town, another state.

So keeping those friendships can be a challenge too.

But like Sophia Loren said, it takes a long time to invest in a truly close relationship.

So don't expect that you'll have more than a very few that last your life.

I think that's a good point that you bring up what constitutes a friend, because you may have acquaintances and you may have a thousand acquaintances that you kind of somewhat keep in touch with.

Or casual friends.

Casual, but then there's your, like you said, your close friends, which...

Like what you mentioned about it takes about 200 hours, I think they say on average, to make a close friend.

Think about just having a lunch with someone, how long that takes.

Or meeting someone quick for a coffee or something like that.

That's really not that much time.

Those are the friendships I think we're talking a little bit more

primarily about.

Yeah.

Even talking on the phone.