We live in the most connected era in human history. The average smartphone user has hundreds of “friends” online. Yet, rates of loneliness have tripled since the 1980s.
: Major events—like relocating for a job, getting married, or retiring—frequently disrupt the frequency of contact with established friends, often more so than with family members.
Psychologists often refer to this phenomenon as . Research suggests that most social networks experience a significant overhaul roughly every seven years, with a notable peak in change around the five-year mark. This "Five-Year Stranger Theory" posits that many people essential to your life today will be strangers in half a decade, while current strangers will eventually become your closest confidants.