Thompson explains what exactly the Dunbar number is when he describes how Robin Dunbar argued that humans have a limit to how many people he or she can know personally. Dunbar figured that the human limit of social connections would be around 150 people, and he was right, but now the number might be changing thanks to social media (588). Thompson reports about his findings from interviews with people who excessively use social media, “Many maintained that their circle of true intimates, their very close friends and family, had not become bigger” (588). While people’s deep connections with people had not grown, the number of “weak ties” they had with people grew greatly. The people that you would meet once or twice and forget about are now showing up on your News Feed and reminding you that they still exist. In order to calculate your technological Dunbar number, you add all of the people who you are friends with or follow (minus any people who are duplicates on multiple sites). It’s interesting how many of those so called “friends” you actually consider true friends. Thompson ends his article by explaining how this new growth in weak ties between people can actually turn into a bad
Thompson explains what exactly the Dunbar number is when he describes how Robin Dunbar argued that humans have a limit to how many people he or she can know personally. Dunbar figured that the human limit of social connections would be around 150 people, and he was right, but now the number might be changing thanks to social media (588). Thompson reports about his findings from interviews with people who excessively use social media, “Many maintained that their circle of true intimates, their very close friends and family, had not become bigger” (588). While people’s deep connections with people had not grown, the number of “weak ties” they had with people grew greatly. The people that you would meet once or twice and forget about are now showing up on your News Feed and reminding you that they still exist. In order to calculate your technological Dunbar number, you add all of the people who you are friends with or follow (minus any people who are duplicates on multiple sites). It’s interesting how many of those so called “friends” you actually consider true friends. Thompson ends his article by explaining how this new growth in weak ties between people can actually turn into a bad