Blog Post 4- Sydney Fried

 Hello everyone,

For this week’s blog post, I will be discussing something that was focused on within the lectures and was also a significant aspect of our Midterm. I am deciding to talk about Robin Dunbar’s number and the Social Brain Hypothesis reflecting on “The Dunbar Number,” which represents the number of people with whom humans can be intimate and form close reciprocal relationships. The Dunbar theory stems from research on primates allowing them to form alliances as a group to strengthen social bonds, similar to how society and relationships operate today. The Dunbar Numbers states that the number 150 demonstrates an average group size but emphasizes that out of those 150, you can only form intimate connections with five. The Dunbar number can relate to the way relationships are formed in society today. Many have a large friend group with more than five people, and according to Dunbar, it is unlikely that every member of the group is close and intimate with everyone. 

Often on social media, individuals have many friends and followers. For example, on Instagram, many have over 1000 followers and are likely unaware of everyone who follows them. I personally have more than 150 followers on social media, which Dunbar states to be an average group size. My followers mostly consist of individuals I know of through mutual friends that I've never met or known personally. This represents the power of social media. We have become associated with so many people and are aware of their everyday activities due to their online presence. But if you were to walk past them on the street, it’s likely that you wouldn't say hello. Dunbar states that you can have 150 friends, which consist of 5 close friends, 15 good friends, 50 friends and 150 acquaintances but cannot form an intimate and close connection with all 150. Social media allows people to connect with others who aren’t in their vicinity and people who even live across the world. 

Is there anyone in your life that you would classify as one of your five close friends that you met on social media?


Comments

  1. Colby HarrisonNovember 28, 2022 at 11:11 AM

    Hey Sydney, really great post, sorry for such as late reply I'm just finally getting to my last blog responses. I think it's so strange that our social media presence extends so far yet our actual connections in life do not. To think if we reduced our followers and connections on social media to just our close friends, even just the 150 meaningful relationships then I believe that we would regain our love for these platforms. I feel like it was social media in the first place that established the idea that we need to have our followers as large as possible, but now as we get older, that need has faded.

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