Quality of Friends – NOT Quantity – Is the Key to Being Happy

社交媒体朋友再多也比不上现实生活中的几个好友

 

Having hundreds of friends on Facebook is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life, a study has found.

 

一项研究发现，在脸书上拥有数百个好友并不能替代现实生活中的几个密友。

 

Researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online. The number of “peripheral others” someone connected with online – former classmates and coworkers, for example – had no bearing on how satisfied they felt.

 

研究人员发现，只有几个好友的人与那些有更多好友、但很多只在网上交流的人们的幸福感基本相当。在网上联系的老同学和同事等“外围他人”的数量与人们的社交满意度没有任何关系。

 

Social media, the researchers said, has encouraged younger people to have larger but more impersonal networks of “friends”. But instead of trying to amass friends, they added, a better cure for loneliness might be spending time with those you're closest to.

 

研究人员称，社交媒体鼓励年轻人拥有更大但更没有人情味的“朋友”网络。他们补充说，与其试图广交朋友，不如花点时间和最亲密的人在一起，这可能是避免孤独的更好方法。

 

Scientists from the University of Leeds did their study using data from two online surveys conducted on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organisation.

 

利兹大学的科学家们利用一个非盈利研究机构对1496人进行的两项在线调查数据进行了研究。

 

People taking part in the study revealed their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of wellbeing. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbours, and whether they included people who provided services to them in their networks.

 

参与研究的人透露了他们的年龄、社交网络的构成、他们进行不同类型社交互动的频率，以及自身的幸福感。这些信息包括他们与家人或邻居互动的频率和方式，以及他们的朋友中是否包括为他们提供服务的人。

 

The number of close friends someone had appeared to be the only thing which influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.

 

亲密朋友的数量似乎是影响他们对社交生活满意度的唯一因素。

 

“Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,” said Dr Bruine.

 

布鲁因博士说：“孤独与你拥有的朋友数量关系不大，而与你对朋友的感觉关系很大。”

 

“It’s often the younger adults who admit to having negative perceptions of their friends. Loneliness occurs in people of all ages. If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.”

 

“承认自己对朋友有负面看法的往往是年轻人。各个年龄段的人都可能感到孤独。如果你感到孤独，与一位朋友建立积极的联系可能比尝试结识新朋友更有帮助。”

 

In her study Dr Bruine de Bruin found older people tended to have smaller social networks. Younger people’s were larger but this was mostly made up of “peripheral others” – not true friends, just people they knew – and did not contribute to their happiness.

 

在她的研究中，布鲁因·德布鲁因博士发现年纪大的人社交网络更小。年轻人的社交网络规模更大，但这些人大多是“边缘人”，不是真正的朋友，只是他们认识的人，对他们的幸福感没有贡献。

 

Even variations in the number of family members or neighbours somebody spent time with did not affect how happy they were with their social life.

 

即使是家庭成员或经常来往的邻居数量的变化也对社交生活的满意度没有影响。

 

Dr Bruine de Bruin said her research echoed other findings showing people reported being happier if a larger proportion of their online friends were actually their friends in reality.

 

布鲁因博士说，她的研究与其他研究结果相呼应，这些发现表明，如果网络上交流的朋友中大部分在现实生活中也是朋友，人们会更快乐。

 

She added: “Stereotypes of aging tend to paint older adults in many cultures as sad and lonely. But the research shows that older adults’ smaller networks didn’t undermine social satisfaction and well-being. In fact, older adults tend to report better well-being than younger adults.”

 

她补充说：“在很多文化中，人们对老年人的刻板印象往往是悲伤和孤独的。但研究表明，老年人较小的社交网络并不会影响他们的社交满意度和幸福感。事实上，老年人往往比年轻人更幸福。”

 

The research was published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

 

这项研究发表在《心理学与衰老》杂志上。

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