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Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

phys.org

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Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#141

Post by WD-42 »

snozolli wrote: post #60
kulahan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably aren't the friends people are thinking of when referring to things like this. The benefit of friends isn't just that you have someone fun to talk to, it's that you're building out a social support circle. Your discord friends can't come over and help you clean up after a flood, or watch your dogs while you're away on a sudden emergency, or cook you a meal when you're grieving a loss, or help you get an…

Your discord friends can't come over and help you clean up after a flood, or watch your dogs while you're away on a sudden emergency, or cook you a meal when you're grieving a loss I'll make the counter argument that -- although I value those things and try to provide them to friends in need -- all of those can be addressed by hiring someone. On the other hand, I've recently received fantastic emotional support from…

This is how I can tell you don’t get it. It’s not about the value of your friends doing those things for you which you can hire someone for, it’s the value YOU get out of doing those things for your friends.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#142

Post by spencerflem »

nativeit wrote: post #103

> What disappears as a result is a societal baseline of tolerance—a development that could contribute to the long-term erosion of democratic structures. To prevent societies from increasingly fragmenting, Thurner emphasizes the importance of learning early how to engage with different opinions and actively cultivating tolerance. That could be a problem, considering how the push back to "actively cultivating tolerance…

They’re illegally sending the military into the streets to oppress us. I don’t think tolerance is really the move

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#143

Post by vasco »

kulahan wrote: post #51
riazrizvi wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I find modern technology makes it easier to maintain them. 25 years ago my friendships around the world would have been relegated to 'penpalships' because of the cost of long distance calls and the lack of face time. Loneliness is a big topic now due to the pandemic, and the lingering trends from stay/work-at-home mandates.

They probably aren't the friends people are thinking of when referring to things like this. The benefit of friends isn't just that you have someone fun to talk to, it's that you're building out a social support circle. Your discord friends can't come over and help you clean up after a flood, or watch your dogs while you're away on a sudden emergency, or cook you a meal when you're grieving a loss, or help you get an…

Most of those things seem like services rather than friends. I want a friend to talk to, not to cook me food or watch my dog, anyone can do those other things. And talking to a friend many times is as good as a video call. In fact because of the internet I can get conversations and opinions from friends all over the world quite quickly.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#145

Post by almosthere »

IX-103 wrote: post #100
almosthere wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There's no law yet. But people in power seem highly in favor of it. Pete Hegseth seems to think women shouldn't be able to vote ( https://19thnews.org/2025/08/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-... ) and he was joined by Charlie Kirk ( https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-guest... https://19thnews.org/2025/08/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-... ) Trump is throwing so many racist dog whistles it's a subje…

[flagged]

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#146

Post by almosthere »

jeffbee wrote: post #106
almosthere wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-def... In Texas even if you steal $100 you can go to jail for 180 days. The nuance in CA (before it recently changed) was that there was absolutely NOTHING you could do if they stole 3 lawnmowers. Besides why fight this? You already know you're wrong.

The penalty for misdemeanor larceny in California is also 6 months in county jail and that has been true continuously since Spanish rule to the present day. The difference between Texas and California is that in California you can do 3 years in state prison for stealing $1000 and that is not the case in Texas.

Maybe the penalty written down, but not in practice. And that's the one that matters.

Also in Texas you can also be shot after 6pm by the shopkeep for stealing and killed and that's 100% legal.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#147

Post by mgh2 »

flave wrote: post #144

> And this increase happened suddenly, between 2008 and 2010 Occam’s Razor tells me that it’s almost certainly linked to the near-total failure of the economic system (and the very slow recovery outside specific US cities).

It is obviously social media: more connections does not equally mean social interactions - people substituted costly and hard in-person for cheap and easy online interactions, with AI optimization fueling the polarization.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#148

Post by almosthere »

IX-103 wrote: post #100
almosthere wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There's no law yet. But people in power seem highly in favor of it. Pete Hegseth seems to think women shouldn't be able to vote ( https://19thnews.org/2025/08/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-... ) and he was joined by Charlie Kirk ( https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-guest... https://19thnews.org/2025/08/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-... ) Trump is throwing so many racist dog whistles it's a subje…

The reason I get so mad for people to push all this shit is because it's so disingenuous and it's all lies. It's all lies mostly fed by the media machine. So fucking glad it's all dying.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#149

Post by bawolff »

crazygringo wrote: post #15

> "Despite minor differences between individual surveys, the data consistently show that the average number of close friendships rose from 2.2 in 2000 to 4.1 in 2024," says Hofer. If true, this is an astonishing social transformation, because it goes against everything we here about the loneliness epidemic getting worse . Or have people redefined what they consider to be "close friends"? Or are people actually genuin…

> average number of close friendships rose from 2.2 in 2000 to 4.1 in 2024," says Hofer.

Seems like median would be the much more relavent measure for this.

Re: Study finds growing social circles may fuel polarization

#150

Post by andrelaszlo »

somenameforme wrote: post #123
crazygringo wrote: post #15

> "Despite minor differences between individual surveys, the data consistently show that the average number of close friendships rose from 2.2 in 2000 to 4.1 in 2024," says Hofer. If true, this is an astonishing social transformation, because it goes against everything we here about the loneliness epidemic getting worse . Or have people redefined what they consider to be "close friends"? Or are people actually genuin…

The DOI links aren't working so I can't read the study but I think there's a simple explanation, that also belies the headline. It may be that the typical number of close friends is now 0. But as people no longer even have any concept of close friendships, they're considering 'lesser' relationships as close friendships, because it's all they know. This is made even more likely if they didn't define the term and allow…

What do you mean? I have hundreds of friends on Facebook. /s
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