Does not having friends decrease quality of life

I don't have a mountain of friends and nor do I need that much. I've got what, 8 close friends and that's it. And they're all guys and girls who I met back in high school. Loneliness doesn't kick in as long as I can see someone else. It doesn't have to be anyone that I know, it just soothes me to see someone else.

Quality-wise, I'd say it swings both ways. Both have their pros and cons. Being alone with your mind is a good experience and lets you sort out your head, while friends never keep you bored.

But then, I like being alone. Nothing is more relaxing than sitting in my room and reading/surfing the internet/playing my guitar. And nothing is more taxing to me than facing a crowd of people; after lectures I just have to go somewhere quite and recharge my batteries.

Normal psychology dictates that we are social creatures that require certain amounts of interaction to maintain the ability to interact effectively, positive emotions, sanity, and even health.

However, the abnormal* have been known to survive on their own just fine.


*I mean crazy, but it's more formal and more correct as abnormal.

I'm a lone wolf because I found being around other people caused me more stress than being by myself. I've never felt lonely before (lonely as in yearning for someone's company). Although, I will admit being a loner has a lot of disadvantages (poor social skills, lack of a sex life, being viewed negatively by the norm, etc.), but everything has their pros and cons.

Social interaction is almost a necessity for most humans. There are very few who can and will, choose to isolate themselves and keep their mental health intact, at least for the most part. Having friends provides a secure social network for you to fall back on, as well as interaction that stimulates you. If anything at all, even most introverts have a small collection of a few friends, though they may not be interacting socially as much as the next person.

If they are real friends then yes. When I was in my mid-teens I thought it was awesome knowing everyone and partying all the time, but as I got older I started talking to fewer and fewer people. Now it's at the stage where I talk to maybe ten people on a regular basis and can be friendly with a fair few more, and it's even better than knowing everyone. Come to think of it, none of the people I regularly talk to now are people that I was particularly good friends with in school, I only know them because of other people I fraternised with.

Friends decrease the freedom to do things which would increse your quality of life, but good friends also introduce those things as well.

So... having good friends is more of a trade off, where-as having bad friends obviously will decease your quality of life. Having good friends, but not treating them like a good friend should, will lower your chances for sharing in their introduced life-quality boosting events, and so it won't make as much of an impact.

Good Friends = Good quality of life (increase? debatable.)
Bad Friends = Low Quality of life
Mix of both = Less opportunity for a good quality of life.

Statistically, this points towards the asnwer being "yes."

Quality of life does depend on a person interpretation of it.
However, humans are born to be supremely social animals. Of course not having friends does make a person feel sad/depressed which may have an effect on their work or student life, but what really matters is the quality of the friends you have. if your friends are "scum" or low-life who don't care about you, then thats almost the same as being alone.

Quality of life is subjective. Some of my greatest moments and accomplishments were from social withdrawal. Growing up as the only child, I spent more time alone in my room playing with toys and imagining than playing with other kids. The only time I ever yearned for social relationships was in high school. After that? I gradually got used to it to the point where I prefer asocial activities over social activities. I can't even stand being around people for more than three hours. From my experience, the majority of people I've met have been critical and judgmental assholes. I'm happier without the company of people.

Quality of life and amount of friends?

Well. what life has shown me, is that people are shit. Friends can stab you in the back. But a true friend



People always prejudge. And thats what i dont like. Always judge before knowing em.
I know through my father couple of bikers, and they arent violent. Theyre actually polite and helpful..

But Having true friends, the ones that stay with you through problems, increases my quality of life.

One good friend is worth more the a hundred shitty friends. If you had friends up until college, what happened to them? Did you have falling outs with them? If so, why? If you can figure out why, then you should act on this and try to get them back (if they're worth the effort of course, like I said at the start of my post, one good friend is better than a lot of bad ones). And of course, try to make new friends. If there aren't any at your college, than go somewhere that you can find friends! I live in a place where there are a lot of gathering areas, such as hobby stores, game shops, unofficial video game tournaments, etc., and I find lots of people whom I can call friend. The key is going to a place where you know there will be people like you, who can understand and relate to you! This is just me of course, and I'm just fortunate enough to find the right people at the right time. Which brings up the last part of my post. Don't just randomly bring up conversation, try to ease into it, most of my friendships were formed from chance accidents, and I was just lucky enough to be able to take advantage of them. Again, this is just me, and I have no right to tell you what to do, but this is just a suggestion born from personal experience. Take my advice, or don't, it doesn't matter, I still have had my say in the matter, and that's all I care about. But if this helped you, any one that read this, please don't hesitate to tell me. It makes me feel important, and who doesn't like to feel important?

The only person in the word you can fully trust is only YOU!

Honestly, I can't really say. I grew up my whole life without friends (the whole school was scared of me because I beat them up for making fun of me) until the 7th grade. Even then, I only had a few "friends", people I'd occasionally go to the local 7-11 with after school to grab a slurpie (slurpy?)with and go to their house after school. After I moved I tried to stay in contact, but it didn't work out, and the one friend I attempted to stay in contact with was the only friend I've ever considered a brother. I now view people in 4 areas: Classmate (so you don't really exist in my view, I'll talk to you only if I absolutely must for classwork), Acquaintance, Friend, and Close Friend/Best Friend etc. I only have one friend that I hang out with everyday only during school, even then we don't have classes together anymore.

I know that I am socially awkward thanks to me being the outcast as a kid, but outside of school, I never go out. Not for no reason though, my school is about 10miles away and both of my parents work full time. I might go over to his house for a few hours maybe...2-3 every 4 months if I'm lucky. Now, I just sit in a corner, listening to music and doing MY best "not to exist" in class. Ironically, the one year where I have no friends in my current classes, I have almost straight A's.

Well, it sure makes your life more fun if you have a lot of friends.
But I don't have many. Don't let it deceive you, it's not about how many friends you have.
What's the point if you have 2000 friends but you are not really open and having fun with them because they are not close enough to you.

I'd rather have 10 bestfriends than 3000 friends, honestly.

Friends lit up your world, but best friends will be there next to you when your world is not lighted up.

At this point, I mostly call them 'colleagues', not friend, as we only help each other when there's merit for us. Real friends, I have them. They're working under me now, as my most trusted managers and supervisors.

If you have somebody in your life that you can be happy and be proud of, then that's all that matters.

People need each other to communicate and be happy, that's how life is.

Just get out there and make some friends and treat them how you wanna be treated, then I am sure you will be happy.

All you really need is about 5 really good close friends.

Developing healthy connections [of any and all kinds] with our peers is an important part of being a functioning human being. We are social creatures... so, yes. Maintaining healthy relationships is important for us to evolve into a stronger race.

But from an individual standpoint.. everyone needs emotional support. To have someone in your life you feel is a companion, a person to not necessarily hold your hand but be stay beside you on your life's journey. Obviously there's family, but to be honest.. you can never have too many positive influences in your life.

I was a loaner throughout elementary, opened up a bit in middle school (grades dropped), made more friends in highschool (barely passed with a D+). Your grades are mainly general interest in subjects, and friends can be fixed in a number of ways.

To make you feel better, I'll be your friend.

Friends are important for a young person life.

I wondered the same thing for the longest. Unlike most fakku users who are highschool grads, im still in my senior year so i come into contact with more younger people, and i been thinking that its like people as young as 13 and 14 would have much better times with friends than i do.
You can say im kinda socially inept, i only consider a few people as my friends but i've always hung out with some pretty popular people, therefore, many people know who i am and talk to me, they also expect me to talk to them, but i find almost everyone unapproachable.
When i eavesdrop on peoples conversations or watch them from afar it seems like they're having or had a good time. moreso than i do.
but i guess it isnt about the amount of friends but what you do with those friends that affects your quality of life.