How many friends do you need?
By Mark Vernon on Thursday, February 4 2010, 09:25 - Philosophers on friendship - Permalink
Beware what you blog, because you could be on national radio talking about it.
But when Evan Davis asked me how many friends I had, I wished I'd had the presence of mind to say that what we all really want to know is how many internet pals he has.
Word of the day: polyphilia - the anxiety generated by having too many friends, as in Aristotle's sigh, 'Oh my friends, there is no friend.'
Thought for the day: 'Host not many, but host not none.' Aristotle again.
Comments
How many friends do you think are enough to keep us from feeling lonely without making us too tired of communication? Some people have only one friend over their lifetime, while the others make new acquaintances nearly every week and are able to get along swimmingly with everybody. But how many people do we really need? Ask the scientists.
The researchers from Nottingham University conducted a poll among 1 700 people and revealed the following. People who feel comfortable and happy are good mixers and have many friends. Only 40% of those who have five or less friends said they were happy. In other words, this group rather includes people who feel unhappy. If you have five or more friends, your chances to be happy are increased up to 50%. The highest percentage of comfortable people was among those having more than 10 friends.