There is absolutely nothing that feels more reassuring than having a close set of friends that have your back, no matter what. Having someone to share your darkest secrets with and to take care of you when things are not going right, not only uplifts your spirit but also makes you a happier person.
But, in today’s age where posting stories on social media has become akin to actually “living your life”, we may have some interesting facts about the whole #squadgoals frenzy.
A recent study has concluded that no matter how many BFFs you claim that you have, you can actually have only 5 close friends at the same time. The study According to a research, your brain actually allows you to have a maximum of five close friends, as the part of your inner circle. This research also suggests that humans can maintain only 150 relationships at one point of time.
To break down this hypothesis, Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, pointed out that bigger brains equal to better memory, which further signifies larger social groups. The explanation? When you have a bigger brain, you are able to memorise and interact with more people, resulting in a bigger circle of peers.
By further analyzing this relationship between larger brains and their social spheres, there is another fascinating fact that came to light. There are actually 4 layers of this social sphere according to the emotional ties you share with them.
The first layer is also the closest layer and it consists of people that mean a lot to us and we invest a lot of time in these relationships. This layer consists of 5 BFFs or really close friends.
The second tier of close relationships consists of up to 15 people and an additional 35 people are added to the third layer of the social circle.
What’s surprising is that the final tier of the peer circle contains no more than 150 people at the very maximum. What is the connection between ‘friends’ on social media and friends in real life?

This finding also serves as a rude awakening to those who weigh their popularity on the basis of the number of social media followers they have on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and even Snapchat.

Simply put, no matter how many people ‘heart’, ‘like’, ‘comment’ or share your posts, it may not necessarily mean that they actually care about you. This is because, according to the research, the human brain seemingly limits the number of close relationships you have to 150, which is in sharp contrast to the number of followers most people have on any social media platform.

The bottom line

The findings of the study may serve as a refreshing reminder for all of us to stop being buried in our smartphones all the time and actually interact and care for the ‘real’ people around us because apparently, they are the only ones your brain wants you to count on.

Also, it doesn't matter whether you have 10 extremely close friends in your peer circle, in reality, you actually have 5 preferred friends that are truly your BFFs. The difficult part, however, still remains to make that 'top five' list.

Source: indiatimes.com