The Floor
How many close friends does a person actually need?
Answer for yourself, then see the shape of everybody else's answer.
Concluded from · Assessed from the stance that a close friend is somebody you would call at three in the morning.
11 months left
Share of the room per band, 0 to 100 per cent. The bands run in order and the shade runs with them, light to dark.
Where you stand
The room's largest group answered "Four to six".
Answered as you did
—
Lead over second
6 pts
"Four to six" is ahead
Everyone here
1,640
66 changed their mind
How divided
Genuinely divided
agreed → even
| Answer | Share of the room | People | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 96 | 6% | |
| Two or three | 511 | 31% | |
| Four to sixmost | 604 | 37% | |
| Seven to ten | 188 | 11% | |
| As many as you can keep | 241 | 15% |
Settles by 2 Sept · The floor itself decides it.
1,640 have taken a position · 66 changed their mind · 3 reasons
What people are weighing
Take a position to mark what weighed with you
- Loneliness studies find the sharpest gain between zero and two
- People name more friends than they contact in a year
- Capacity for close ties is roughly stable across cultures
How the room moved
Share of the room, 0 to 100 per cent · 2 Sept to now
What settles this, and when it closes
This one does not settle against the world. It closes in a year and keeps the shape the room made.
Source: The floor itself · expected by 2 Sept
Counting closes on 2 Sept.
What people said · 3
Every bubble carries the side its writer took.
Take a position above to add your view. You can read everyone else’s now.
Bryn T.@bryn_t· 8 Sept
The research is pretty consistent that the gain is almost all between none and two. After that you are describing a preference, not a need.
Selin O.@selin_o· 9 Sept
Two is fragile. One moves away and one is going through something, and you have nobody. Four is the first number that survives an ordinary year.
Jonah F.@jonah_f· 10 Sept
The question assumes a fixed capacity. Mine has changed three times with circumstances and I do not think there is a number to find.
