Does not having friends decrease quality of life

It's definitely the quality of the friends that you have. Also, I find that people don't differentiate acquaintances and friends, when I do. I consider a lot of people I know acquaintances, as I don't meet them much outside the workplace and school.

Depends really, but people definitely do need someone to be a strong influence in their life. If you literally have no one for any kind of support or enjoyment I can see life being more miserable when alone.

For me I don't have really any traditional friends but I have my family which I hold with great importance. I live a grateful life even though I'm not around many people of my age. The only rough part is not meeting girls at times but I get all other friendship enjoyments with my family. My only worry is they're older, so my family will pass on before I do in age.

I never felt I needed friends because my family "wasn't good enough". They're some of the best people I know I can always trust over an outsider.

It is very hard to find true best friends. One true best friend is a major blessing to have.

Well, i don't really give much thought about it.
As for my case ,i am a indoor kind of person, and as much as possible, i would never go out of our home, unless needed.
i do not have that much friends, but it's not that bad.

it's just a matter of choosing whos company are you willing to spend with

I think... Not having friends, really isn't any different from being the social pariah. All you need is three, maybe four good, trustworthy friends and you can live life just as you would if you had more. I myself have trust issues, but you'll always need that one person who you can trust with everything you've got. You'll always need those people.

Wouldn't a more appropriate question posed here be; What is a friend?

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Other than that I haven't the slightest. I am aware that I require assistance with some things, and that, on occasion, I find myself interacting with people just for the interaction. It was an interesting thing to find out that when I don'r pay attention to myself I will be drawn towards people. I don't like people, I don't trust people. I can be a brilliant server and bar tender, playing the nice guy and the kool brewer, but it's all an act. I don't talk to people on any fundamental level, which, I have noticed, has reduced my communication and expressive skills exponentially.

When I say 'I'm not paying attention to myelf' I mean in this, I am always thinking my interaction with people is .... pre-emptive? I would say that when I interact with people I simply refrain from being personal. I haven't found anyone in life to be of significant value. Not that I'm saying everyone should die or anything, I'm just an outsider, as it were. I guess I can also try to explain my behaviour when I'm thinking as robotic? As in I don't really pay attention to what I'm doing, I just talk. When someone talks to me, I don't inform them of myself and go with the age old way to get out of a conversation, ask how the other person is doing and jump on whatever they say. People are always more interested in talking about themselves, so I use that to my advantage.

Not completely certain why I've written all of that however use it as you will.

Friends are not necessary, however human interaction is. It keeps the mind sane for one reasson or another. As I have found out from personal experience and from psychological texts, when someone extricates themselves, wholly and completely, from the clutches of both society and live communication, they begin to degress in both linguistic and emotional expression.

Don't know if any of this is the answer you are looking for. Simply my version of the topic at hand, I guess.... Enjoy?

It's always good to have friends to help you so yeah.
Not having friends does not decrease quality of life but having them surely will increase it

I agreed with you, there's only few friends who really cares about us, while the others just suck your butt until you realized they're just use you..

well, that's what I thought in my life, since I had different perspective of what others see..

No you don't need friends. What you need is actually deeper...
That is know how to respond well and correctly to your needs.
Though, having some friend might help you understand it.

I'd recommend you need to know how to be a good friend and have at least a few friends you contact from time to time. Also, please choose worthy friends if you plan to have a few.

Your grades will be better.

It only matters if you care that you have friends.

It can get lonely at times but no, I wouldn't really say it directly decreases your quality of life. Many things can be achieved through prolonged isolation or seclusion whether it's forced upon a person or not. As long as you have some social interaction during each month you should be alright. Everything in moderation.

That said, I only hang out with about 1 person linked to a bunch of other people I know through highschool who I would call my only real IRL friend currently. The rest of my friends that are like brothers and sisters to me are people I've never met. Strange how much easier it is to make connections with people online than it is in real life. A lot less is censored and a lot more is said and it's a shame daily interactions can't be like that without alcohol or something. Maybe I've just met some weird people though.

Why don't you have friends? I don't know how do you live without friends, how is this world without friends. Friends are everything.

I'll have to say that it does decrease quality of life, having friends helps you grow and it makes life more fun having someone to hang out with.

In my opinion, I believe it's almost like a must to have at least one friend. Someone you can share your feelings with. I'm not the kind of person that is so social that I have like 20. I only have good friends. The rest are not even friends. They are classmates or my friends' friends.
I'll give you my personal experience.

Almost 2 months ago, my father died. During that week I didn't saw my friends, I just stayed home, with mom, trying not cry cry 'cause I knew she'd think that I needed some medical help. I tried to forget about it and tried to focus on tests and exames. But a month later I broke. I couldn't smile and pretend that I was ok, that it wasn't a big deal. That I didn't cry in the shower or in bed.

I couldn't help but to feel so alone and somehow outcasted. College wasn't going as well as I'd like to. I was used to good grades like 15, 16, 17, I think it other countries is between B and C or 4.0 or 2.0, I'm not sure. I started having 10, 11, 12, between D and C or 3.0. I became more and more depressed. I didn't go for almost 2 weeks.

I felt so much better when I talked to my friends. This just to show you that is good to have someone you can count on besides someone related to you by blood. It won't always be good or bad, it'll have ups and downs however at the end of the day you'll feel almost fulfilled.

Does it improve the quality of life? Yes. Just like having a good job, they make things better. Friends are important. What doesn't matter is the number. =)

From personal experience when I go overseas for a prolonged period on holidays, and one time when I was pretty much alone and at home for straight one week, I felt isolated, shit and even scared.
So interacting with another person in anyway will in a way improve quality of life.
But I recommend trying to contact your old friends, finding new ones from class or other social events

Even one day just going out to see a friend made me feel better

I really don't know how to reply to a question like this..
I have always been a loner, it worked for me, and I have been stabbed in the back so many times I only felt "safe" as a loner.
I have about 4 people right now that I consider more family than friend, and 2 that I just consider friends..
My 2 "friends" are both moving 1400 miles away in august, but I'll adapt quickly to not having them around..

But in all I could not say it decreases quality of life, or increases it, it all depends on what type of person you are and rather or not you enjoy having people around..
Its nice to have "real" friends, but only if they are real.

I would say that having friends raises the quality of your life. Having friends give you people that you can always talk to, that will help you out when you need it, and that can open doors to new experiences.

I wouldn't say that real friends could bring down the quality of your life, nor would I say that not having friends would do the same thing.

If you have ever watched Baku wa tomodachi da sukunai Yozora Mikazuki once said" It doesn't matter if you can't make 100 friends, you just need to make real friends who are as important to you as 100 people."

Zero friends still and Im 24. Military family that moved every 1-2 years (no exceptions) then my parents divorced and I lived with them once every year(and some times just 5 months for no gd reason) till I was 20.
Yea I wonder if my over all quality of life would improve. I am a little depressed but you just pretend and fill the hole with video games, manga, anime, ALOT OF sc2, and hentai.
Yes its a band aid to the situation but who cares? No ones going to say "poor you" and if you want that go discuss your acceptance issues to a shrink. You live you die and life sucks 80% of the time with the other 20% being just brain chemical make up sending signals of so called pleasure. So yes that 20% of your life is a giant illusion of you will be alright.

Edit: oo and i have not talked to either of my siblings or father in 3 years(h8 them with t3h passion). So end story you will be fine, just remember there is always some one else that is far worse off then you. Just think of the children standing on a lone road side in the middle of no where in Africa, or the victims of rape, genocide &, torture. Suck it up you will be fine in comparison to the rest of the world.

I don't believe there to be a static definition of life that could serve as a scale of quality. Generally life is what you make of it. If you do not see a need to have any friends then so be it. No one has the right to say that your life is of low quality. However, if you yourself are seeing your own life in such a way that you believe it to be of a low quality, that just means that you've become aware of a path in which you can improve it. Reflect upon what you believe is missing and fill that void.