We may live in the Internet age in which the bombardment of social contacts is overwhelming, however, according to a new study by British scientists, the truth is that our close social circle remains stable.
New findings from researchers at the University of Oxford show that most users tend to have five to eight close friends in their social circle. This circle of friends is maintained stable, as each time ties with older friends loosen, new friends are added, with which the ties are correspondingly tightened.
"Despite the fact that communication is easier today than ever before, it seems that our ability to maintain close social relationships has an expiration date," explains Dr. Felix Reed-Czochas.
"The number of close friends varies from person to person, but what we see in general is that we tend to maintain close relationships with a small number of people - so when new friends are added to the group, older ones, with whom we no longer communicate, simply "leave" our close social circle," the expert adds.
You go, you come
As part of their study, scientists monitored the communication history of 24 students via their mobile phones over a period of 18 months while they were in the process of transitioning from school to university, or from university to the job market. These are two periods - according to Vima - during which, according to experts, we tend to meet new people and make new friends.
Over the course of 18 months, the students went through three rounds of interviews, so that the experts could evaluate and analyze their friendships and acquaintances.
"We found that although we live in an era of social fluidity, thanks to social media, each of us has a social 'signature' that remains unchanged over time. We believe that behind the process of recycling friends, lies the fact that we do not have an inexhaustible capacity and patience to constantly invest in social relationships," says the researcher.
For his part, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology Robin Dunbar from the University of Oxford commented that there may be a natural "limit" to the number of close friends our brain can handle.
The interesting findings of the British scientists are presented in the scientific publication "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences".
