Are friends important to have? What do you think?

>>17574341
Yes, who are you going to share your dank memes with if you have no friends?

yes friends are important to mooch off of
and to confide in
so they can tell everyone your secrets

File: 11.jpg (483KB, 2048x2048px) Image search: [Google]

483KB, 2048x2048px

>>17574341
I'm not entirely sure that ensuring whether or not you're a sociopath counts as asking for /adv/ice.

Anyway.

Yes, they are important.
Recent researches (to which I mostly agree) are trying to push social needs into the "primal needs box" - meaning, valuing human interaction as high as food or water (the implication being that a prolonged lack of the above leads to death as much as starvation/dehydration).

>inb4 heremits hurr durr your move mister law-man
You can try googling "Social Pain" if you're interested in the subject.

yes
actually,friends are invaluable beings to us.
through friends,i can gain happiness.
In my opinion.

>>17574341
Growing up I thought friends were for weaklings and sheeple.

Then I got friends who cherished my positive sides, who challenged my negative ones and now they're basically my family. I trust them with information about myself I wouldn't even tell my sisters or my parents, and my friends have seen me at my worst and went above and beyond to help me out of that situation.

Making friends has shaped me to become a better person than I was and it's only due to not spending as much time with them that I currently spiral into a pit of despair and bitterness that fuels into my insecurities and my disdain for others.

So, yes, having friends is pretty fucking important both mentally and emotionally. You may count yourself as too independent and self-reliant as an individual, but even you will eventually see the stepping stones of having no inner circle of familiar people who don't just hang out with you because you happen to work or study at the same place or because you can feed one achother's rampant memery.

>>17574341
no u don"t need friends
Animals naturally form packs.
Carnivores form social hierarchies within their packs. Those that fail to become alphas harbor the burden of failure until they die. I'm sure the herbivores feel guilt as they sacrifice their comrades to evade their predators and live on. In this world, forming packs yields no benefit for the individual. Thus, I choose the way of the solitary bear, which does not form packs. The bear finds no anxiety in living alone. He is proud. He is a lone wolf. Furthermore, they hibernate in the winter. How wonderful that must be. There is no doubt in my mind.
In my next life, I want to be a bear.

>>17574371
>heremits
i was gonna say schizoids
same thing?

>>17574439
Well,yes - they are excluded for the same reasoning: their brains are wired slightly differently, they're not "the norm" so to speak.

While this may sound idiotic (lack of food or water is lethal regardless of what you do, right?) it can be easily explained through the Pain Overlap Theory.

To simplify things extremely: physical and social pain trigger a response in the same areas of the brain - it lets your mind know shit is real and that's what led to the wiring of the behavior of entire species towards "society".

Now, if you lacked the wiring to make the connections in the first place... how would that help you?

Social pain ends up being lethal the same way as physical pain (think of patients with congenital analgesia) is - pain is our body's main alarm and if it gets dulled, in any way, expect to live way less then you ought to.

Therefore... keeping the status quo, fleeing from pain, both physical and social can be considered a need as vital as food and water.

I think it's normal to want them badly but having them or not isn't really important
Of course, how could something that ends in death be important. Etc. Etc

>>17574473
i liked that explanation, ty friend

>>17574341

depends on your definition of 'important'. people are seemingly happy being hermits. but other people have severe depression simply because they arent surrounded by friends for an hour out of the day.

everyone is different. I believe everyone is capable of complete independence, but that doesn't mean having friends hurts.

for me, i need someone to talk through feelings with. i can do fun stuff on my own, but its even better with someone to make jokes with, and when you know you've bonded its pretty good.

File: 1.jpg (15KB, 285x285px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 285x285px

How can I make friends then?

>>17574761

Social hobbies are good, because you have automatically something in common with those people through the hobby. Also, work, studies etc. are potential places. Volunteering is nice one too. Online might work in some cases. Basically anywhere you meet people and talk to them. Just get out of the house and have conversations with people. Not all of them will become your friends, but some might.

>>17574761

i met my friend by over hearing a guy at yogurt stop say he wants to be an actor. i write stuff so asked to trade info and collaborate. three years later great friends.

most recent friend i met at an anime marathon party from meetup.com. we got along great. last night we went to the digimon movie.

>>17574341
If you need them.

if you're on the edge... well, it helps.
it's a shame they go away once the skies turn into grey.