Bowling alone

Curiously I was discussing the fact (and I think it is a fact) that just a generation ago people had more invested in friendships (similarly, the number of people involved in political parties has declined, as has involvement in things like sports leagues and other social systems).

It may be that there was more time available, or the technology was such that people could devote more attention to socializing, or perhaps it was a fluke of the post-War period, but certainly there has been a decline in close friendships:

Friendships on the decline as pace of life quickens; Canadians have fewer friends and see them less: research
Shannon Proudfoot
Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 17, 2009
Our friendship networks are shrinking, a mounting body of evidence suggests, a social erosion that's linked to factors ranging from longer work hours toa population on the move.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the intensity and the number offace-to-face interactions is decreasing," says James White, a professor ofsociology at the University of British Columbia.

The pace of life has accelerated, he says, and people work longer and harder to maintain the same standard of living. At the same time, technology acts as a "buffer," Mr. White says, recalling a recent short-haul flight where noone spoke to their seatmates, but the cabin erupted into one-sided conversations the second the plane landed and everyone could turn their cellphones on.

Statistics Canada figures indicate the proportion of Canadians reporting they have at least two friends has dropped across almost all demographics inrecent years. Among the 45-to-64 age group that includes most baby boomers, for example, about 85 per cent said they had at least a couple of friends in1990, but that proportion fell to about 82 per cent by 2006.