We live in a time of constant communication.
No matter where in the world our friends are,
or how long it's been since we've seen them,
as long as they stay on social media,
we never have to lose touch.
But is social media strengthening friendships
or making them shallower?
According to anthropologist Robin Dunbar,
the highest number of people you can maintain
a meaningful relationship with at one time
ranges from 100 to 200, depending on
how social you are.
And many of us have a lot more
social media connections than that.
Friendship researcher William Rawlins divides
friendships into three categories: active,
dormant, and commemorative.
A friendship is active if you're regularly
in touch with that person, if you feel you
can call on them for emotional support,
and if you pretty much know what's
going on with their lives.
A dormant friend is someone you have history with,
but whom you haven't spoken to in a while.
But if you were in the same town as them,
you'd definitely hit them up, and it wouldn't be weird.
And then, a commemorative friend is someone
who was important to you at an earlier time in your
life, but you don't really expect to see or hear from them,
maybe ever again.
You remember them fondly,
but they remain firmly in the past.
Or they would have, before social media.
Facebook is like a trophy case
for these commemorative friendships.
You can see what your childhood camp friend
thinks about politics,
you can get a "Happy Birthday" message from
an old Little League teammate.
As you grow older, more and more of your
active friendships will become
dormant or commemorative.
That's because friendships naturally fade
as people grow up.
According to the American Time Use Survey,
young people aged 15 to 19 spend the most
time socializing per day while older adults
have less time to spend with their friends.
One study found that the more people moved,
the more willing they were to get rid of objects,
but the more willing they were to get rid of their objects
they also reported being more willing to
cut social ties too.
Which suggests that people who move a lot
may see their friendships as more disposable.
But a friendship isn't the same as that
crumpled soccer team sweatshirt you finally threw out
after your 3rd move.
Technology offers us a way to extend the lifespan
of these friendships, even long-distance ones, with
minimal effort.
But some of those friendships aren't
really living. It's more like they're on life support.
According to friendship researcher Emily Langan,
any contact at all is the bare minimum of
what it takes to keep a friendship alive.
So if you write on someone's Facebook wall,
or comment on their Instagram, you’re doing
a form of friendship maintenance.
Social media allows you to maintain more friendships,
but more shallowly.
But if you just focus on your closest friends,
it's also a tool that can help you
deepen your relationships.
The more platforms friends use to communicate,
in addition to seeing each other in person,
the stronger their relationship.
Researchers call this media multiplexity theory.
So social media can both strengthen
the friendships you care about,
and keeps some relationships alive
past their natural expiration date.
Friendships are a uniquely flexible
kind of relationship because
unlike with our family members or romantic partners,
there are no clear expectations or obligations
This makes it easy to drop when things get busy,
but it also means that a period
of dormancy doesn't mean the friendship is over.
In a series of interviews Rawlins did with
middle-aged Americans,
he found that many still considered themselves
to be friends with people they hadn't been
in touch with in a long time.
But they felt like they could pick right back up
where they left off.
So maybe that's the biggest gift
the Internet gives us.
A place to find our friends, when
we're ready to pick up where we left off.
The effort has to come from you,
and liking a status won't be enough, but when you're
ready, your friends are there, in your pocket,
waiting for you to reconnect.
This is "You Are Here", a new series about
the science behind everyday life.
Let us know what topics you'd like us to explore
in the comments. I'm Julie Beck, thanks for watching.