Did You Know? You Only Have Space For 150 Friends
And you won’t be able to upgrade your memory.
It doesn’t matter how popular you are on social media. You probably won’t be able to maintain a true relationship with over 150 people. This comes from Robin Dunbar’s theory, which suggests a threshold for our cognitive memory — The maximum of friends comes to a number of 150.
Dunbar is an anthropologist who explained this rule in his book — “How Many Friends Does One Person Need?” From the ancient tribes in the stone age to the Roman army, group sizes magically fall on the number 150. It’s not a coincidence.
So what’s the big deal? Well, he kind of sugarcoated the theory. The ‘friends’ here refer to only those you’d at least catch up with once a year. Or, putting it in Dunbar’s words — “people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar.”
The true number is actually 15. The real friends that you can name on the top of your head should come down to a meager 12–15 people.
We don’t believe in being a social butterfly. Even if you put in massive energy mingling around, you’d only be able to hold on to 150 people. Less than 10% of that amount eventually becomes your close friends.
All the loners out there, relax. You’re really not that different. Also, choose your friends wisely, you only got a roster of 15.
You’d be amazed by how many social media giants have taken this number into account. Even though Dunbar’s number is based on science, there are quite a few doubts.
Other experts argued that we should look at it in a modern context. Our world is much more complicated now than before, that would in turn make our brains, change. If that’s true, we’d be able to manage a wider web of connections. Among the experts, one anthropologist introduced the number of 291, nearly twice as high as Dunbar’s.
However, we’re not trying to make this into a competition. Plus, 150 was just the most wide-spread number in Dunbar’s theory. He stated that the number could float between 100 to 230.
What we do want to bring to your attention are the thresholds. The beauty of Dunbar’s theory lies in the numbers of 5, 15, 50, and 150.
Once we reach a maximum of each level, it doesn’t go on forever. Simply put, it’s always those 5 besties that come to your mind; perhaps 15 you know that’d feel sorry about you passing away; probably 50 that you’ve always kept in touch with, and lastly, those 150 that you meet with once a year.
Again, no need to envy those friends that seem to know everyone in the city. Everyone has some kind of limit they have to reach. This has nothing to do with your personality.
That being said, we’re releasing the cleaner image up there in case you wanted to pick your favorite five. Meanwhile, you can start thinking about who you should select IRL. You’re welcome.
