> Regardless of whether the average friendship length is similar, being FORCED to abandon your friends based on someone else's schedule is much more traumatic t

> Regardless of whether the average friendship length is similar, being FORCED to abandon your friends based on someone else's schedule is much more traumatic than friends entering and exiting your social circle due to the natural cycle of friendship. No. Losing friends through the "natural cycle of friendship" is just as traumatic or even more so. You are forced to "abandon" your friends regardless. This is true when you switch schools - from elementary school to junior high to high school. The same group of friends you had in your freshman year isn't necessarily the same as you'd have in your senior year. Heck, you can lose friends and make new friends just by having different classes/schedules. People just simply drift apart, fight, etc. Just like people have a romanticized view of your childhood, you seem to have a romanticized view of childhood in the suburbs. Also, losing friends because you have to move falls under "the natural cycle of friendship".