Is it harder to make friends as you get older? I've noticed as we age, it's quality over quantity as the goal and friends are made at work?

[Uptowngirl88]

It's definitely harder making friends as you get older because we look for quality over quantity. So usually we meet friends where we often are which is work

I think it has more to do with people in society today. They are nuts so it's harder to make friends because you don't know who to trust

It's hard in general because people aren't good people

I find it is easy to make friends no matter what

Other

[JSmuve]

It's harder because the amount of interaction we have with each other decreases over time. It's said that in order to develop friendships, we need to invest hundreds of hours over a consistent period of time. This is relatively easy when we're young because we have school 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 10 months with a number of kids our own age. And if we have extra-school activities, this increases. But when we're adults, we're burdened with so many responsibilities and we move from one place to the next that we don't have the time-investment to make new friends. The only conceivable place we could do this is at work. Outside of that, it's very difficult. How many strangers do you interact with each day for a long enough period of time that they could become friends? Adults don't have recess to interact with their peers unlike when we were kids.
And then there's the trust issues that we develop as we get older.

[Uptowngirl88]

Love this answer so true

[DaveJord]

Absolutely its harder to make real friends as you get older... because you have this vast experience and knowledge developed throughout life from trusting people that ultimately failed you. So as you get older you are more keyed to identify people that will actually be there for you as a trusted friend, and those are truly far and few between. Age naturally generates a degree of cynicism.

[Sincerly_KittyCat]

I think as life goes on our barriers get taller. We tend to trust less and look for true connection and understanding with people. I mainly say I have acquaintances. I dont just drop anybody in the friendbox because you just can't do that (unless you're desperate).

A friend is someone you can trust and feel safe enough to open up with, do that with just anybody and things can be bad for you.

[Anonymous]

I do make friends at work but they’re just “work friends”, it’s difficult to make new actual friends that you can share your deepest darkest secrets with as you get older. I guess bc people get more guarded and less trusting as they grow older and a lot of them are too lazy to socialize after a while…

[Uptowngirl88]

I agree, I think once we've gotten older we've experienced so many people throughout our walk in life to the point where we are more discriminative of who we let in our space. I know I am very selective in choosing friendships. If they can't bring me the peace I have while alone and if they're not bettering themselves daily I'm not interested

[Opinion Owner]

That’s true, we don’t got time for negative toxic energy!

[TwinkleLily5]

Yes it harder, most of the people I meet including myself are more devoted to their daily life obligations and have little time to spend with their friends.

[midnightmoon05]

Not hard for me. It’s really easy for me to connect with people.
but I kinda don’t want to have so many because
as we get older, it’s harder to go out with them due to having other responsibilities.

[Uptowngirl88]

I think the older you are the wiser you become when it comes to your surroundings. I've noticed that for me the older I get the more I value my peace and picky with who I allow in my space

[Anonymous]

I think it is harder to make friends when getting older, especially in the age where people have small kids, they just often only prioritise family time. And when being even older many already have some good friends and no time/do not make time to get to know knew people.

[sheikalana]

Is not hard to meet new people but do I consider all of them my friends? Obviously not. As you get older you also get selective about who you allow in your life.

[My-lover]

True friends can be made only when you are young although most people will be selfish , i don't think work people can be friends for long run unless you have been working like more than 3 years and there behaviour hasn't changed lots of people are backstabing

[annabananna]

I’m still good friends with a girl I worked with about 7 years ago.

[My-lover]

@annabananna exactly how many years did you with them

[annabananna]

We worked together for about 3 years

[My-lover]

Yup i mentioned the criteria and you fall in that

[Bubbles16]

It wasn't too hard for me to make friends when I was a kid but as I got to a teenager and now a young adult and started caring what people thought of me it became harder for me to make friends and it doesn't help that I have really bad anxiety

[Elise888888]

Research says when we age we have fewer and fewer friends. Like 1-3

[Alyssa_11]

For me it’s become easier. I meet people outside of just “school”, I’m much more confident and outspoken too.

[awkward_author]

It's harder to meet people as you age because you're no longer placed into situations where friendships are likely to occur.

[Justneedtokno]

It is definitely harder to make friends in the outside world. Especially if you’re not always on the scenes where you want to be.

[JohnHaley114]

Age doesn't matter to make friends. It depends upon whether you really wanna have friends.

[msc545]

I find it fairly easy to make friends actually.

[Gwenhwyfar]

I voted A