Research-backed writing on friendship, staying in touch, and the people just outside your inner circle.
·6 min read
Dunbar's number is the idea that humans can maintain about 150 stable relationships, in layers of 5, 15, 50 and 150. Here is where it comes from, why researchers dispute it, and what remains useful.
·7 min read
Most networking advice ends at the handshake. The research says the value is in what happens afterwards — and that mid-strength ties beat both close friends and strangers. A practical method.
·7 min read
Adult friendships rarely end in a falling-out. They lapse quietly, through nobody's fault. Here's what the data says, and the one habit that reverses it.
·7 min read
The people who are good at friendship aren't warmer than you. They're doing four specific things — none of which require more free time than you already have.
·7 min read
Most personal CRMs are abandoned within a month — not because they're bad, but because they ask for more upkeep than the problem is worth. Here's how to pick one that survives.
·6 min read
Your contacts app has 2,000 entries and tells you nothing about any of them. Here's how to clean it up — and what to store instead of phone numbers.
·6 min read
Most lonely people know plenty of people. What they've lost is contact with them — which is a much cheaper problem to solve than making new friends.
·4 min read
A personal CRM is a private place to keep track of the people in your life — context, not contacts. Here's what one does, who needs one, and how to choose.
·2 min read
Granovetter's classic research found acquaintances, not close friends, drive most job opportunities. Why your loosest connections get the least care.
·2 min read
41% of Americans report money tension with a friend. Why shared-expense tracking should stay honest without turning into a running scoreboard.
·2 min read
Research on dormant ties found reconnecting with people you've lost touch with produces more novel, useful input than talking to your closest contacts.
·2 min read
The Surgeon General's advisory found heavy social media use nearly doubles reported isolation. Why passive contact doesn't count as staying in touch.
·2 min read
University of Kansas research puts real numbers on friendship: 50 hours to a casual friend, 90 to a friend, 200+ to a close one. What that means in practice.
·2 min read
Birthday reminder apps solved the timing years ago. The hard part is knowing what to actually say — and that needs context, not another notification.