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Did I miss it or does it not define what a "close friend" is? I speak with two friends almost every day, but I'm unsure I would consider them "close friends" be

Did I miss it or does it not define what a "close friend" is? I speak with two friends almost every day, but I'm unsure I would consider them "close friends" because I rarely see them in person and they're not really invested in my life in any major way (nor I theirs). For me, close friends would be defined as those you physically visit frequently during the week; where you can share every secret and detail of your life and they'll have your back or come to your aid whenever you need it. If you end up in an accident, they'll come visit you at the hospital. All that being said, I think the spectrum of what "close friend" means will vary widely for most people.

zeroonetwothree 3y ago
To generalise a bit, extroverts consider practically anyone they talk to frequently a close friend. Introverts require a much deeper connection. I doubt there are many introverts with 5+ close friends whereas many extroverts have them.
- friendsfew 3y ago
  [flagged]
dotnet00 3y ago
I think leaving it to people to pick their own definition is useful in this case because different age groups probably also have a different idea of what a friend and close friend is. In my mid-20s, my idea of a friend doesn't really depend too much on physical proximity. To me a friend is someone I find enjoyable/interesting enough to want to keep conversing with them. In my teens I'd have considered anyone of a similar age who I regularly interact with a friend. A close friend is someone I can trust with basically any thought/info and who similarly can trust me. All my close friends don't live anywhere near me and I have never even met 2 of them in person. But it's weird to not count them as close when we've been chatting and sharing our thoughts and experiences in near real-time for years now. I've become more restrictive with who I call a friend and especially who I call a close friend because as a child there isn't really much autonomy in choosing, you're more or less stuck with classmates and neighbors and any disagreements are meaningless and forgotten in a week. As an adult, I have much more freedom in who I engage with and I have to be picky because my time is limited and disagreements can cause much more damage.
fragmede 3y ago
Given our busy lives, who has time to visit people in person that frequently? One of my closest friends lives 45 minutes drive away from me. We text and call every couple of days, facetime every so often, but we see each other in person maybe once a month. With all the technology available to us, I don't think you have to see people in person for them to have an important place in your life these days. I wish we lived < 15-minute walk to each other so we could visit in person all the time, but that's not possible, so we make do with what's available.

zeroonetwothree 3y ago

To generalise a bit, extroverts consider practically anyone they talk to frequently a close friend. Introverts require a much deeper connection. I doubt there are many introverts with 5+ close friends whereas many extroverts have them.

friendsfew 3y ago
[flagged]

dotnet00 3y ago

I think leaving it to people to pick their own definition is useful in this case because different age groups probably also have a different idea of what a friend and close friend is. In my mid-20s, my idea of a friend doesn't really depend too much on physical proximity. To me a friend is someone I find enjoyable/interesting enough to want to keep conversing with them. In my teens I'd have considered anyone of a similar age who I regularly interact with a friend. A close friend is someone I can trust with basically any thought/info and who similarly can trust me. All my close friends don't live anywhere near me and I have never even met 2 of them in person. But it's weird to not count them as close when we've been chatting and sharing our thoughts and experiences in near real-time for years now. I've become more restrictive with who I call a friend and especially who I call a close friend because as a child there isn't really much autonomy in choosing, you're more or less stuck with classmates and neighbors and any disagreements are meaningless and forgotten in a week. As an adult, I have much more freedom in who I engage with and I have to be picky because my time is limited and disagreements can cause much more damage.

fragmede 3y ago

Given our busy lives, who has time to visit people in person that frequently? One of my closest friends lives 45 minutes drive away from me. We text and call every couple of days, facetime every so often, but we see each other in person maybe once a month. With all the technology available to us, I don't think you have to see people in person for them to have an important place in your life these days. I wish we lived < 15-minute walk to each other so we could visit in person all the time, but that's not possible, so we make do with what's available.