Four friends who will be there for you if you need them at 3 a.m. is a solid number, and there’s nothing wrong with the other 146 friends playing a different role for you. The truth is the 3 a.m. crises are, hopefully, few and far between, and if you have four people you can turn to during those times, you’re already in a great place friend-wise.
But for the rest of your life, it’s fine to have friends and acquaintances who tell you how cute you look in your profile pictures, play Words with Friends or leave comments when you crowdsource restaurants in a new city.
Offline this can translate to your neighbor taking in your packages while you’re away, a mom-friend keeping an eye on one of your children while you chase around the other or a variety of other casual interactions that make up our everyday lives.
It’s not just for convenience, either. A study out of Rutgers in 2014 found regular social interaction improves psychological well-being. The study found that “having continuously low levels of contact with neighbors, or losing contact with neighbors over the 10-year study period, was associated with declining levels of eudaimonic well-being.”
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