back to article Net hasn't isolated Yanks - they've just misplaced their friends

Americans have not become more isolated thanks to the advent of mobile phones and the internet - it's just that they've mislaid a third of their closest friends in the last few years. A study by the Pew Internet and American Life project countered findings earlier this decade, which declared that Americans were becoming more …

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  1. Paul Charters
    Flame

    I hate to say it...

    But maybe this just shows the Americans are getting ahead of so much of the rest of the (idiot) world and recognising that having 400 'friends' on your list actually means squat, and the people you should really be bothered with are the ones with whom you genuinely have some sort of relationship.

    At first, social networking can be exciting, and hundreds of people get added to your friend list. However, sooner or later people tend to start realising that they aren't all that tight with so many people and just can't be bothered to keep up with them AND find enough time in the day to perform even the basic chores, let alone go to work, etc.

    So, sooner or later they either start cutting people off (because seriously, how many f---ing requests can you stand to send someone a f---ing pig on some farm game anyway?) and recognising that alot of them are just pumping cr*p out in a desperate attempt to get attention.

    Eventually, many many people will really pare their lists down to the people the act they actually know and have any sort of relationship with, and advertisers will push to find even more ways to drop intrusive adverts on users' PCs.

  2. Keller Drozdick

    Linguistic violation

    "Mobe"? I that was banished to the hinterlands.

  3. Bassey

    Interesting Phenomenen

    Actually, this (kind of) reflects an interesting phenomenon I've noticed over the years. I grew up on a small Island (the IOM), then spent four years in the UK and now live back on the Island. I travel WAY more when I'm on the Island than when I lived in the UK. The same goes for a lot of people here. I also have family on Lewis who are constantly travelling. My immediate group of friends covers all walks of life. Housewives/Husbands, a road worker, school maintenance, teachers, police, accountants, bankers, butcher. The list goes on. And I regularly speak to friends (i.e. real, physical people I grew up with and have known for 20+ years) from all over the UK and much further afield.

    Conversely, friends and family from the UK, Europe, US and Australia seem to go on holiday once or twice a year and that's about it. Rarely do they travel within their own country (unless they have a favourite "spot" - in which case, they visit it over and over). They commute to work but, once there, rarely travel more than a mile from the office other than to go home again. They wear a path to the shops and back and have a small number of favourite bars\restaurants. They'll boast "We have X cinemas here" but always go to the same one. Their network of friends are either from work or their partner's work (so they all do what they do for a living) and it all seems a bit dull.

    It does seem, to my limited experience, that the larger the place you live, and the more facilities and entertainment and opportunities it offers, the less you travel outside your "comfort zone".

    I also suspect the experience of people on here will differ considerably - but we're (generally) well paid, well educated types so mass-generalisations often don't apply.

  4. Jason Togneri

    @ Keller Drozdick

    I think you a word out.

  5. Maty

    friends

    Yeah, I've got about four close ones, all on the internet.

    Mind you, three are servers and one's a workstation, so I'm not sure if that counts.

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