How Many People Can You Possibly Know?

Dunbar's Number suggests that human groups can only sustain about 150 people, and after that tribal groups fall apart.

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[driverjayne]

If i had to routinely interact with 150 people... well, I'd be the first one out trying to find out if I could make it over the mountains to the next valley cause that's too many people.

[lokhimtam]

Knowing someone is a totally different thing from maintaining a relationship

[martinmackye]

This is absolutely the truth... I've been saying it for years The ability to regard reality accurately....to discern and disseminate reality accurately on such a scale that people are trying to do nowadays is IMPOSSIBLE....

IT IS LITERALLY THE ROOT OF EVERYTHING THAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW....

[jerrylong]

How many people do I KNOW? Maybe 10. Close friends, 4.
Acquaintances, maybe 100.

[katesun]

Completely Agree. I think moving to a community with 150 people would be nice.

[gearlooze]

Lol.I can't even handle my closest family.

[barbarabarnett]

I guess my questions would involve what comprises a modern relationship?

[cannibalbananas]

I know a lot more than 150 people, but I've moved around a lot in my life & have changed jobs several times. However, I can only maintain double digit relationships in a given day, week, month, etc. And even then, it's low double digits for anything more meaningful than small talk. Keeping up friendships (even w/ family) is time-consuming.

[amylsmith]

I think I had more friends when I was forced to see them every day (school/uni) but the moment I finish either I lose contact with them all 😅 nothing personal I just forget to talk to people

[DialMMicrocontrollr]

150, that's an interesting number. When I used to teach high school, I had about 150 students each year. It would take me a few weeks just to get to know their names, let alone who they were as students. Yes I believe that would be about the max for most people. Let's say that they were in a community with me and I did not know anyone else. Thinking about this, probably 150 to 200 people would be the maximum number that I could get to know. But I think 200 would be pushing it.

[scubardiveshop]

I know a crazy amount of people from my work and it is exhausting

[codahighland]

That's kind of a common misinterpretation of Dunbar's Number. It's not about how many people you know. It's about how many meaningful relationships you can maintain. Merely coexisting with people doesn't really count towards that number, nor do people whom you only talk to once in a blue moon. It's how many people you have a good enough relationship with that you could sit down and have a drink with uninvited without it being awkward.

[tondriasanders]

And here I am feeling lame because I know the people who live in my house and maybe like two other people 😂

[athena]

It definitely depends on how social you are and the deepness of the relationships. I personally can only have one person I religiously text and keep up with often but I can have other less involved relationships where we'll talk or hang out every once in awhile. Alot of it has to do with how slow I am at texting, constantly rewording things and proof reading it like four times 😅 so when I've tried in the past to have two involved conversations, one will always be more interesting and by the time I finish replying to that I'm over messaging and put it off for hours, days if I forget 😬
This doesn't really apply to family.

[JEBavido]

It’s easier to know more people when they’re grouped together. Rather than just a small tribe like millennia ago, I guess you could say I have several. There are relatives I stay in touch with, old friends, new friends, church friends, neighbors, a few old schoolmates, etc. That really adds up.

[mattpage]

I think that I evolved to be able to handle 17 people. More then that and my fight or flight kicks in. Yes, I'm that grumpy guy with permanent RBF in the grocery store.

[pakde]

Ironically I just switched phones yesterday and took the opportunity to clean out duplicate contacts and others that were no longer relevant (merchants etc) and the total remaining that I know exactly who they are is 142. However, there's a probably a lot more i could add if you wanted to be technical about it like in a congressional investigation under oath, "have you ever been in contact with this person?"
But people that I might actually have a reason to contact yeah 150 is about right.

[noodlesthest]

150 relationships? Ha! as if I could get anywhere near close. I handle maybe 20-30 but with only 2 close friends.

[keenfire]

There's a reason you don't speak to 95% of your friend list on Facebook.

[theadventuresofbrockinthai]

More people that I want too. That's why I'm moving to the middle of nowhere in the Northeast part of Thailand.