One in 10 Brits reveal they don't have single 'real' friend
One in 10 Brits reveal they don’t have single ‘real’ friend as their social lives are spent on social media and online gaming
- Millions of British people have no ‘real life’ friends, a poll of 3,000 people shows
- Eight per cent of Brits instead derive all their social interaction from the internet
Almost one-in-ten British people say they haven’t got any friends in real life, new research shows.
Instead, eight per cent of Brits between the ages of 18 and 70 derive all their social interaction from the internet, the poll of 3,000 people demonstrates.
Extrapolated out to the wider UK population of around 55 million, that works out at 4.4million people have no ‘real’ friends they can count on.
Those Brits without real life mates instead said they have ‘online’ friends, who they keep in contact via social media, online games or over email.
The research by life insurance specialists LifeSearch found that the remaining 92 per cent who did have friends had, on average, eight friends each.
Eight per cent of Brits have no friends in real life but instead derive all their social interaction from the internet (File photo: A woman uses social media)
The poll showed men have an average of nine friends, with women having an average of seven.
Those aged 35-54 have the least real friends, with seven, compared to those aged under 35, who have an average of ten friends.
Brits over the age of 55 had an average of eight friends each.
The study also found that 55 per cent of the 3,000 people polled said they had a ‘best friend’, with their partner top of the pile.
All in all, more than a third (39 per cent) of those surveyed said their best friend was their husband, wife or partner.
Asked to reveal how they knew their best friend, those polled revealed the following;
Barry Taylor, 44, of Watford, Hertfordshire, said his wife Claire was now his ‘best friend’.
The window fitter said he’d lost touch with friends from school and hadn’t seen his ‘hobby’ friends since giving up playing darts.
He said: ‘I used to keep in touch with friends from school and meet up once or twice a year, and I used to play darts in the pub league.
‘I gave up darts after breaking my arm, and friends from school are all online these days as they’ve mostly moved away.
‘My best, and probably only friend is my wife Claire, and that’s all I need to be honest.’
More than a third of people say their best friend is their husband, wife, or partner (File photo: A woman looks at her laptop while holding a dog)
Chloe White, 23, of Swanage, Dorset, said she didn’t have any ‘real friends’ since her two best pals moved to London.
She said: ‘I used to have two best friends, but they ended up getting together and moving away, so that left me by myself.
‘We are still online friends, but we’ve not seen each other in two years.
‘All my friends these days are online, but I’m sad to say that if I wanted to go out for a drink I wouldn’t have anyone to go with.’
A spokesman for LifeSearch said this week: ‘Our study of 3,000 Brits found that over 4million people say they have no real friends.’
Emma Walker, of LifeSearch, said: ‘Friendships can be the cornerstone of a happy and healthy life.’
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