Thanks Internet: People Have Fewer Close Friends

New technology links people over greater distances, but cuts into face-to-face meeting time.

The number of people who say they have no one to talk to about important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona.

Increased use of the Internet, along with the number of hours people are spending at work, are factors contributing to a drastic decline in the number of close friends that Americans have.

The findings are published in the June 2006 issue of the journal American Sociological Review.

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