Andre Yoskowitz
8 Nov 2011 14:14
According to a new study from Cornell University, we may have more friends on social networks nowadays, but we have less real-life ones.
Matthew Brashears, a Cornell University sociologist, surveyed 2000 American adults and found that from 1985 to 2010, the number of close friends per person dropped from 3 to about 2.03.
The sociologist considered truly close friends as "the people you think of as your real confidants, your go-to people if you need something."
Brashears surveyed people from the online database TESS (Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences).
From those surveyed, 4 percent said they had no close friends, 48 percent said they had 1, 18 percent said 2 and 29 percent said more than 2.
While we have an increasing amount of friends on social networks, Brashears does not believe that is the reason for the decline. In fact, the sociologist believe that online friends provide social support and advice.