Dunbar's Number: The Limit of Friendship
The Magic Number 150
Anthropologist Robin Dunbar found a correlation between primate brain size and social group size. For humans, that number is roughly 150. This is the maximum number of people with whom you can maintain stable social relationships—knowing who they are and how they relate to every other person.
The Circle of Intimacy
Your social world is built in layers:
- 5 Loved ones (inner circle)
- 15 While good friends
- 50 Friends
- 150 Meaningful contacts
- 500 Acquaintances
- 1500 People you can recognize
Quality Over Quantity
Social media tricks us into thinking we can bypass this limit. But “likes” are not relationships. Investing energy in 1,000 shallow connections often means neglecting the vital 5 or 15 who actually matter.
Robin Dunbar
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