Facebook friendships too much for the human brain

According to a study conducted by Oxford University professor Robin Dunbar, we may might have a real talent for attracting hundreds or even thousands of friends to our Facebook profile, but in reality, the human brain is ill equipped to keep track of all these relationships. While a growing number of high school and undergraduate students add four, five and even six hundred friends to their Facebook profile, Dunbar found that the core group of friends they actually follow or keep in contact with never exceeds 150. This is what the evolutionary anthropology professor named “Dunbar’s number.” According to the British scientist’s theory, the part of our brain that manages social contacts sets a limit at around 150. We may have many more acquaintances on Facebook, but beyond the first 150, we are not likely to be conscious of their relationship to others in our circle of friends, nor do we contact them at least once a year.

The purpose of Dunbar’s most recent study was to see what impact the rise of Facebook as the world’s most popular social networking site might have had on human friendships and relationships. In short: little has changed, and even those with thousands of Facebook friends are only likely to visit the profiles of up to 150 people, whilst treating the others as mere virtual numbers.

While Dunbar generalizes about the Facebook relationships of more than 350 million users world wide, one thing that he does notice is a real gender difference between how men and women interact with each other both online, and in the real world. Women are far more likely to form meaningful and lasting friendships with others of their own gender, while men seem less talented at this and can only develop a bond between other males if they participate in activities together.