newtoyou Loc: Eastport

First thing, to jerry41. I think I am speaking for many when I say thank you for initiating this line of thought. I saw a mention of how females form friendships and bond better that men. I would argue that women EMOTE. They share. Men do the same only, my opinion, when under the influence. I am out living my friends and relatives. I have started to value them more. This post has prompted me to establish contact with someone I had written off. It was worth it. We are both older, things change. Bill

DAVE FISHING Loc: Phoenix,Arizona

I have one friend from high school 56years ago up until couple years ago we hunted and fish together, his back has gone out, I call him couple times a month. Have meet a bunch of new guys, sense I started shooting sporting clays. We go out afterwards and eat and tell each other our stories. The trouble I have with a lot of my friends is I have to do all of the calling or email to get things going. I hear all the time I have been thinking about calling you. Don't wait until it is to late? wife just says she has a honey do??? latter.

Chaostrain Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon

I have only one friend, that's my wife. Everybody else I know is an acquaintance through work and we vary rarely talk about anything besides work.

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

I have a few drone friends, too. They seem to fly in their own minds. I tend to avoid them. It works, because now only my true friends want my company. I have more time for them. Just wish we had more in common in photography. But, that is what UHH is for. Bill

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

Very interesting. I have friends, but no CLOSE friends. I have yet to find a really close friend. In the past, my so-called CLOSE friend had figuratively stabbed me in the back, so I confide in no one now. And yes, I would love to have a close friend that I could confide in but.....
Rich...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

A common complaint.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, UHH is good for socializing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've been fortunate to avoid this, but I know many people who have been betrayed by their supposed friends. I'm careful about what I say and who I say it to.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Sorry, no. I scan so many online articles every day that they quickly evaporate. A title will catch my eye, and I'll read the article. That will lead to a similar article, etc.

I just did a quick Google search -

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+fallacy+of+close+friends&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=the+fallacy+of+close+friends&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.11486j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I get the occasional email from a woman I used to work with. Most of her emails are about former colleagues who have passed away. We're getting to the point where there are fewer living than dead.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Hate to say it but most are dead and/or gone,

berchman Loc: South Central PA

I have two truly close friends. Unfortunately, one lives 1¾ hours drive away and the other lives in NYC which requires taking Amtrak for 3¼ hours after a 45 minute drive to the station. I see him only once a year, sometimes twice because now that his wife has various health issues I can't stay in his apartment any more and have to stay with a former student who is a friend, but not a close friend.

For the friend who lives a 1¾ hours drive distant, I visit him about once a month and stay for two or three nights. We bike together on a rail trail and lift weights together. He and his wife recently allowed me to set up a bunch of studio lighting in their living room and leave it there for a week. I was learning studio lighting and took his picture. I have also taken two trips to India with him and his wife and will be traveling to Indonesia with him in a few months.

I email each of these guys daily. I also have 6 semi-close friends who know my personal business and vice versa. The only one of these who lives in my area still works and spends every other weekend with his wife in another town where she works. He's very busy and is one of those people who never initiates a meeting, leaving that to me. (I hate that.) All of these people either used to work at my school or used to be students with whom I formed a close relationship.

Aside from emailing these various people, I am socially isolated. I belong to two camera clubs, but the other members are at best acquaintances that I never do anything with outside of meetings and field trips. If I didn't live with a wife and a dog I don't know how I would survive. I love living in my house which was designed and built to my specifications and I love living on 9½ acres. I grew up in a three room apartment and it would be punishing to live in a small apartment again in a city. Besides, I can't afford to live in NYC, not even on Staten Island or the Bronx. I could visit my friend in NYC more often if I were willing to spend for a hotel, but I prefer to use the money to travel overseas. I no longer have a guest bedroom ever since I got rid of the bed to install studio lights and stands.

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

Jerry, at my age, most of my close friends are now deceased. I have only one I can still call my 'close' friend plus a good many 'casual friends'. Fred & I grew-up together through most of the stages that the photographic field has evolved through and because of our mutual interest in photography became close friends and still are today. I've out-lived two wives who were each my closest friend. Seems that the older one gets, the fewer friends he can claim. Guess that's the normal progression of life, eh?

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Research supposedly shows that being socially isolated is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It takes a certain kind of person for me to be interested in becoming his friend. He has to accept or even welcome dark and obscene thoughts.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

I have 3 very close friends that has lasted for decades, early 60s and early 70s. We stay in touch either by phone or e-mail, we have been through thick and thin together and know pretty much everything about each other. Then we got old and not very mobile, 2 have had bouts with cancer and one with heart problems, 4 heart attacks and 2 by-pass surgeries, he is still kicking. I love my friends and I hope they stick around for a long time.