There is an old adage: "Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future."  It’s widely accepted that we are influenced by the company we keep, but the extent to which that is true, and the effect it has on us, might not be clear.  Philosophers and scientists alike have sought to explain the relationship between our friends and our behaviors, beliefs, and outcomes.  Is there science to back up these folk knowledge truisms?  How much can we change our lives by being deliberate about choosing who to spend time with?  Just how many people are influencing us on a daily basis?  In today’s episode, Mellisa and Pete traverse the centuries to find anecdotes about the effects our compadres have on our behavior, our morals, our health, and even our happiness!

Conversation Kindling:

As we noted in our discussion, research demonstrates that there is a relationship between our friends and our behaviors, beliefs, and outcomes. This interactive chart from Our World in Data illustrates who Americans spend the most daily minutes with at different ages of their life. What we found fascinating about this chart is that people–across all age brackets–are spending most of their time alone, and this is based on data collected between 2009 and 2019, which was pre-pandemic! How does this impact the idea that we are the average of the five people that we spend most of our time with? And, what effect does this alone time have on our health if human connection is so important to our wellbeing?

Visual Capitalist - Who Americans Spend the Most Time With by Age

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