Is the drop in our number of friendships a sign of social maturity or proof that the world is lonelier than ever, asks Fiona Cowood
Ellie*, 23, says she can’t remember much about the final stretch of her engineering degree. The Covid pandemic hit towards the end of her second year, so she saw out the last 15 months of the course from her childhood bedroom, watched over by cuddly toys crammed onto a floating shelf above her desk.
“It just felt lame,” says Ellie. “Before Covid, I was part of this huge group of mates at uni. We were always out and between studying and working part-time in a restaurant, I never had much time to myself. Now, apart from my job, that’s all I have. It’s lonely.” The report pinpoints our ‘social self’ as the thing which has seen the sharpest decline, concluding that it’s our friendships, connections and relationships that have really suffered – and that younger people have lost the most.
Many experts and commentators predicted that a so-called ‘friendship recession’ would inevitably follow the pandemic, and research by LifeSearch finds the average 18-34-year-old has lost 4.5 friendships since Covid, rising to 5.4 in London. But for Paris Collingbourne, 27, this ‘friendship pruning’ has only been a positive.“I used to be busy all the time. I had plans most evenings, whether that was a gym class or catching up with a friend and would spend my weekends going on nights out.
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