Now, reading the title, your first thought might be: “Kenny! Why the hell are you writing about My Little Pony?”. Well, I’m not. Instead of some (hot take inbound) overrated kids show, instead we need to talk about the importance of friendship, even in a dividing world. Through the lens of political division, current cultural trends, and phycology, lets examine the role of friendship in our society.
When we look at popular culture, it is typically best to look at those who create and move the cultural trends: people aged 13-25. Specifically, teenagers. First of all, most teenagers do have people they consider “close friends”, from the Pew Research Center:
Fully 98% of teens say they have one or more close friends: 78% say they have between one and five close friends, while 20% have six or more close friends. Just 2% of teens say they do not have anyone they consider a close friend.1
The other interesting friendship related statistic that is different from perhaps the past, with “A similar share of teens (61%) identify someone of a different gender as a close friend”2. These two statistics make it seem fairly certain that friendship is the most crucial part of American culture, and how it plays a part in the current state of American society. This is similar to statistics in adults, with a OnePoll study finding this:
the average adult has 16 current, active friendships. Of those friends, three are considered friends for life, five are worthy of a one-on-one hang out session, and eight are generally well-liked but not enough to hang out with in person all that often.3
The major difference however, is that adults are far less likely to make new friends.
The phycological aspect of this is clear: humans are social creatures. There have been countless studies that have found that friendship is crucial to human happiness. I can confirm that anecdotally. According to the British Psychological Society:
‘Friendship is the single most important thing affecting our psychological health and wellbeing, as well as our physical health and wellbeing.’ Spending time with our friends releases endorphins in the brain, and makes us happy.4
Friendships are crucial through every part of life. When we look at how friendships are seen in a cultural aspect, they are crucial parts of our lives. In movies and TV shows, the friends of the main characters are vital parts of the story, and many of themes of friendship and the realities, both good and bad of them. They personify just how important friends are to us, and how we may sometimes not appreciate them enough. One example is Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the movie, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has two crucial friends to his life: his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). The climax of the movie shows Peter struggling with the decision of sacrifice his friendships with MJ and Ned and save the universe, or don’t. This scene makes you think, how important are your friends to you? The answer for most is incredibly important.
From a political standpoint, friendships are crucial to political identity. People tend to associate with those they share similar beliefs with, especially politically. From the Pew Research Center:
Roughly four-in-ten registered voters in both camps say that they do not have a single close friend who supports the other major party candidate, and fewer than a quarter say they have more than a few friends who do,5
This statistic is frightening when it comes to looking at our politics. It is valuable to have diverse friendships, especially when it comes to politics, as it helps to give people a broad experience of what people tend to think. Beyond this, when people who have differing and conflicting political values cannot become friends and see the similarities between themselves, then they can never come to compromise. This is how political violence starts.
So what is this power of friendship? Friendship itself is what gives people meaning. Without friends, people have a low sense of self-worth. Without friends, people feel lonely and isolated, and loneliness and isolation destroys the human mind. For those who have friends, it is a happy experience. Often, the light at the end of the tunnel for people after a hard day is hanging out with friends, going to the movies or dinner, or simply just spending time at their house. The last thing about friendship that should be known, is that it is valuable. There is a reason why the ting people fear most is often losing friendships, I can tell you that my worst fear is growing apart from those close to me. But the value is in making life joyful. There is no need to read an article about why friends are important, you just only need to look inside yourself to see that.
My hope in writing this article is that I help voice how important friends are. In the current world we live in, there is nothing more important than social interaction, and I hope that fact is something everyone realizes, because people making friends makes the world a better place.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed please consider subscribing for more. If you would like to read some of my other works, check out this piece about Liz Cheney's recent primary loss. Or for another culture related article, how Reddit is screwing over Wall street. Thank you for reading, be a friend, and have a great rest of your day.
Monica, erson, and Jingjing Jiang. 2018. “2. Teens, Friendships and Online Groups.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. November 28, 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/28/teens-friendships-and-online-groups/#:~:text=Fully%2098%25%20of%20teens%20say.
Ibid.
Renner, Ben. 2019. “The Average American Hasn’t Made a New Friend in 5 Years. Here’s Why.” Study Finds. October 9, 2019. https://studyfinds.org/survey-average-american-hasnt-made-new-friend-in-5-years/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20survey%2C%20the.
“The Psychology of Friends - the British Psychological Society.” n.d. Www.bps.org.uk. https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/psychology-friends.
“Few Trump or Biden Supporters Have Close Friends Who Back the Opposing Candidate.” Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/18/few-trump-or-biden-supporters-have-close-friends-who-back-the-opposing-candidate/.
Well Written and a pivotal point everyone needs to consider in today's social climate. :)