Our American culture, as well as many other parts of the world, is becoming increasingly more friendless.
A recent study by American Sociological Review indicates that the average American has just two close friends, compared with three in 1985. In the last 20 years our circle of close friends is growing smaller and smaller.
In the same study those reporting “no confidants at all” jumped from 10 percent to 25 percent. 25 percent of the people around us have no one – not a soul – they feel they can turn to when they really need a friend. Even the share of American reporting a healthy circle of four or five friends had plunged from 33 percent to just over 15 percent.