We Have More Facebook Friends, but Fewer Close Friends, Says Cornell Sociologist – ABC News

We Have More Facebook Friends, but Fewer Close Friends, Says Cornell Sociologist – ABC News.

Reading this article made me think how much this is true for people with autism?Especially since we are more prone to spend time online on sites like  Facebook. According to the article, people now have an average of 2.03 real life friends which is down from 3.0 real friends. The definition of real friends used is basically people we can use for emotional support and various other things. Given the naivete that many autistics have, socializing online can be a risky proposition and it is easy to meet people online who will take advantage of us. We may also foolishly believe that people we meet online are really our friends and will be there when we need them. Just because I may have 1,000 friends online doesn’t mean I have 1,000 friends in real life.