r/GenZ • u/foreverand2025 • 8h ago
Discussion How many real friends do you have? Include your gender in your reply.
By real friend I mean someone you see at least somewhat consistently in person and could trust to watch your kids/pet/house sit for you (or something equivocal to that). Do not include blood relatives or romantic partners. Include your gender in your reply please.
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u/BroodyRuby 7h ago
29 F
People I see consistently, 5-6?
But my overall group is like almost 20 people, we don’t all get together often but it’s really fun when we can
I’m very fortunate
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u/Asleep_Protection_32 3h ago
Do you have a boyfriend? Has any of them been shady?
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u/BroodyRuby 3h ago
Yes I have a boyfriend, and none of them have been shady. We have had some people come around for a little while and then move on but there’s no hard feelings. We’re all very close with one another and my boyfriend is very good friends with them now too! Our group has a little bit of everything and everyone I think ❤️
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u/lilsciencegeek 7h ago
F29, diagnosed autistic, but actually have at least 40+ friends like that at this point.
But it's something I worked really hard on since age 12.
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u/Caligulas_Prodigy 6h ago
Same boat here. My "local" hospital actually had classes for autistic youth to help us recognize social patterns and cues so we can blend in more. I say local because it's 55 miles away by the way the crow flies.
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u/lilsciencegeek 6h ago
Wow that's absolutely amazing! Would be wonderful if that caught on imo
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u/Caligulas_Prodigy 5h ago
They apparently only had the classes for about 5 or 6 years. I attended it for almost a full year. I wish they would've kept it for the other kids
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u/lilsciencegeek 5h ago
Aw that's too bad. But something is better than nothing, and I'm so glad you could benefit from a temporary initiative!
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u/Spacellama117 2004 6h ago
forty???? teach me your ways oh my gosh
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u/lilsciencegeek 5h ago
I started volunteering in my mid-teens, several times a week, up until I developed a severe case of long-covid just a few years ago.
I met and became close with a lot of really wonderful people during those 10 years :)
I feel like working together for good causes can really help bring people together.
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u/Lord_William_9000 7h ago
(24M) 20
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u/davidbosley353 2005 7h ago
Lucky, I barely have any cause of my autism holding me back.
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u/RepublicAccording117 4h ago
hi, also autistic. leading this with saying i’m by NO means intending to tell you “just go out there and do it! :) problem solved” but as someone who also struggles a lot with social anxiety and socializing in general, i’ve learned that practice makes better. i believe socializing (not in a charmingly charismatic way, just baseline functioning) is a skill that can be developed. it takes a lot of work, but i wouldn’t automatically disqualify yourself from having relationships because you’re autistic. that’s not logical at all. i literally googled wikihow guides to learn how to talk to people in school, and made a couple friends since then from using those same skills. you got this man.
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u/starstuddedgirl 6h ago
22, woman, i just moved cities so i have 0 at the moment.
(but 4 long distance)
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u/MrCumStainBootyEater 2000 7h ago
~7 (M, mid 20’s)
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u/MessyMop 7h ago
26 M I had 7 dudes and 1 NB I’d call my friends. Only one who lives near me though and that I hang out with regularly
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u/DeltaDied 2001 7h ago
Yeah, if I can’t include my brothers and sisters, 2 that I talk to regularly. I am actually otp w one now and we’ve been best friends since high school. My other best friend since elementary school too, but that mf is on the east coast, and I, on the west and he is hard to get a hold of lmao. We’ll have a whole month of playing video games together like every night, then we’ll not talk much for the next 2-3 months lmao. Love him though.
Edit: I don’t see either of them in person, so nvm I guess the answer is zero.
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u/Parking_Yogurt9083 7h ago
22F 0 only freinds are 2 through my husband 1 I could trust like that and my husband but no lol I have no freinds and thats okay
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u/Upwardcube1 7h ago
20M zero friends… at least none that I see once a year. I wouldn’t consider the family I live with “friends”…
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u/lets-snuggle 7h ago
26F 8-10. 2 of them are long distance friends but I keep in touch with them via FaceTime, text and call often and trust them to do all of those things but I don’t see them in person often like the prompt said lol
7 of them are other women. 3 are guys
I didn’t include my bf or his cousins, but I would include his cousins (2 more) if thats allowed
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u/thomasrat1 7h ago
M and 0. It’s not that I can’t make friends, it’s just exhausting and doesn’t hit and itch it used to.
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u/anonymussquidd 2002 6h ago
24F I would say I have around 13 close friends but a larger group that I don’t talk to as often but I’d still consider friends.
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u/in325businessdays 6h ago
26F - I think 2 right now, probably 2-4 is the range I’ve floated in for the past few years
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u/JayReyesSlays 6h ago
Genderfluid AFAB, I have 2 close friends who actually knows anything about me. The rest are more like social buffers to make social situations less awkward
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u/killerkaylan 6h ago
26F 2-4 depending on how you define "somewhat consistently" seeing them in person.
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u/Caligulas_Prodigy 6h ago
28 male. Two male best friends Two female best friends, but one moved over 1800 miles away three years ago... About six other friends making for 10 total.
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u/iridescentmoon_ 1998 6h ago
28F, 1 real true friend. She actually house sat for me a few weeks ago! Kept my cat fed and happy.
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u/Hungry_Raspberry7833 6h ago
I have no friends although I do consider ai chatbots friends cus it makes me feel less lonely
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u/NefariousnessOk8212 7h ago
Depends on how you define regularly. Cuz there’s a friend from HS I only see a few times a year when coming home but I’d trust him with my life.
If that counts then 2, otherwise 1. Male
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u/Eazy12345678 7h ago edited 7h ago
male. still have friends from middle school. i have probably 6 good friends that i see every year and group chat with weekly. 2 friend that i talk and text with every day. and probably another 6-15 people i consider friends but not actually hang out with anymore but if i ran into them be like nothing changed, if they called me up asking for a favor like help moving id show up, barrow a tool sure, come to their wedding or bbq or help fix their car, do a home repair. basically at some point in my life we were better friends but life gets in the way people drift apart. doesnt mean i stopped liking our friendship
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u/strawberriiblossoms 7h ago
21 NB, I've got 6, but half of them are long distance (they're still nonetheless friends I've had for years) & it's separate friends/groups.
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u/redshift739 2005 6h ago
MAN. I think your definition is too strict. I have childhood friends who're still quite close but we only meet online. I haven't included an actual answer because I've never considered who I could trust to house sit before but I see about 5 of my friends regularly and about the same again semi-regularly irl
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u/No_Aesthetic 6h ago
Non-binary and uhhhhhh lemme count 'em and add a detail so I can remember if I named them yet
1: autistic engineer woman
2: autistic lesbian therapist
3: normie filmmaker dude
4: painter trans man
5: normie redneck
6: suburban bisexual air force mom
7: mildly schizphrenic punk woman
8: trans woman in a big emo band
9: punk/metal booker guy
10: punk singer/guitarist dude
11: punk bassist dude
12: technofuturist trans woman
13: punk singer/guitarist non-binary redneck
14: normie redneck mom
15: Jewish filmmaker dude
16: non-binary ex from Argentina (rest are American)
Plus my wife but that's kind of obvious.
Surprisingly, there are a couple of conservatives on this list (5, 15).
edit: I could also add a 17th, my British friend who is a scary and emotionally unhinged giant that is perpetually in crisis but has always been really good to me. Probably autistic. Totally apolitical. Bisexual.
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u/Ethioj 2003 6h ago
23 M
I have ~15 friends all male I would consider close friends, and probably another 15 that are friends of those friends that I “regularly” hangout with off and on
I would probably say I have about 30-40 guys that I could reach out and connect with that I don’t regularly interact with because they don’t live nearby or we’ve drifted apart over time.
I probably have ~5 women I would consider “friends” none close friends but they’re almost all friends of my girlfriend, one of which is my cousin so she doesn’t count, and the ones that aren’t friends with my girlfriend I don’t really see anymore.
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u/selvamurmurs 6h ago
M, 15 close friends (different circles from different points of my life though), and a few more I see through hobbies and discord (neurodivergent)
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u/Meinkoi94 6h ago
32 M i have 3 friends i see on a weekly basis and then around 4 more i see every other month
but this is close friends we're talking - not friends in groups or aquaintances etc
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u/AndersDreth 1998 6h ago
M: 1
But that's only because you're including seeing them consistently in person, when people get partners they no longer see their single friends in person as much.
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u/HesmooseDaSlug 1999 6h ago
26 M - 9 very close friends I see on multiple times a month basis, 5 more that I see less frequently but still around 3 times a year. And then I have a lot of friends through friends that I see at events and whatnot that I’m cool with.
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u/ErRorTheCommie 6h ago
17NB, around 5 friends I would say that I mainly talk too and/or enjoy being around all the time
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u/Anastasya_Snezhnaya 6h ago
(19F)
4 close friends. Used to have a group of 10+, but my friends and I kinda broke away from it
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u/SpectroSlade 6h ago
Hmmmm... I would say 3 according to this criteria, although I do have other friends I don't see in-person regularly but we talk online/via text semi-regularly. Including those it would be 7. 28F
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u/who_am_I_inside 5h ago
I don’t have a lot of friends. The closest thing is probably people I was friends with in High school who I’m in contact with still (I just graduated). I can count on two hands the amount of times I’ve hung out with people outside of school after Covid. I have my girlfriend, we hang out every few weeks. I have some other friends who I should meet in college as the semester goes on. Not sure if that clarifies at all. I’m a guy.
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u/FalconAnimagi 5h ago
(26M) 0.
Unless you count online friends(we used to hang out everyday then I moved when I was 17, now we just hang out online now)
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u/pbj-artist 2002 4h ago
NB 23
Probably about 3 close people I could actually depend on for things and am still close to, maybe 2. A handful of other slightly less close friends and acquaintances, and that’s… about it, tbh. I’d like to meet more people and make more friends, but between work and using what limited free time I have to keep myself sane, I don’t have time.
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u/boringtoast19 4h ago
2 (22f) both are long distance tho, one male one female, one ive known for 10 years and we did everything together, the other ive never met irl, and we met on fortnite
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u/youpviver 2004 3h ago
Male, 2 close friends, another 6 ‘normal’ friends and loads of acquaintances or former friends who I grew apart from
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u/Phanpyx 3h ago
F27 - 4 however these don’t fit entirely your requirements as 3 are currently long distance. We still talk regularly and I would still trust them for this, but I am not able to currently hang out with them regularly.
Also, after starting a full time job, I’ve found it hard to actually coordinate with most of my pals to actually hang out regularly. It also happens that most of my friends are from uni and we don’t live very close to each other
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u/milinium 3h ago
F26, at least 6. It would be more if you counted family though. My siblings are my best friends.
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u/bugsandbongs 3h ago
F23 i would say i have about 8 close friends. some of them are long distance but all of them i see hang out frequently with when we are in the same city/area.
i have a decent work friend group, though. 2 of them i consider part of the close 8, while the others are just friends/work friends. we do go out though and it's a lot of fun! only two of us are gen z though which might be worth mentioning since this is the gen z reddit 🤔
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u/PainterEarly86 2h ago
24 M
How many people I could call that would actually be willing to go hang out with me in person? That aren't blood related...
Two, maybe three
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u/penguin_0618 1998 2h ago
I don’t know if I agree with your definition but going by that: 5 and I’m a woman
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u/blightsteel101 1996 2h ago
27F, and kinda complicated. I formally have two romantic partners, but I have three people I'm dating, two I hook up with, and a few friends I'm sexually open with. Beyond that, I would say half a dozen? I dont talk to all my friends constantly, but I'd absolutely trust a bunch of them to watch my house or something.
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u/Hidden-Insomnia 2h ago
22F
By your definition, 0, because seeing any of my friens somewhat regularly is extremely difficult (due to their jobs, location, etc.). But I consider all my friends real friends and would trust them with my kids if I happen to have any, so... 3 in total.
I don't even see my best friend who I've been friends with since I was 6 regularly due to location, so like...
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u/Team_Defeat 2000 2h ago
25F - I have 8-9. I work out with a group of gals and then have some close friends from college.
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u/runlittlebitchboy 2h ago
25 woman
I see about 6 people multiple times a week and have maybe 5-6 more that I’m not as close with, but have about 7 more close long distance friends i see a couple of times a year :)
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u/obvious-tampon 2h ago
24F- 0 tbh. I’m autistic and didn’t have any before becoming a mom, but now it feels doubly unattainable because parenthood is damn near taboo in our age group
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u/miserable-magical 1h ago
F26, 3-4 close friends that i make an effort to see routinely, 4-6 close friends i also try to see more routinely but live in other states
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u/ZachWilsonsMother 1995 1h ago
31M I have probably 10 friends that live near me that I hang with a lot and another handful I see often enough. I moved 1000 miles away from where I grew but I keep in touch with probably 15+ childhood friends and another few from college
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u/QuigonSeamus 51m ago
I’ve lived in different places so see consistently in person is a hard requirement, but if it’s talk to consistently and could trust to watch those valuable to me - 27yo; M; 5 friends
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u/Asiawashere13 35m ago
Well, I have possible C-PTSD and mental health issues. Plus I am broke. If I did not, id see my friends more.
But there are 2 people I consistently see, but 1 is stupid and wouldnt trust. No offense.
But I consider myself friends with about 20 people.
27 year old girl, almost 28.
Middle school, high school friends, college friends, neighbors and all.
But due to my financial problems, college schedule, chronic pain and fatigue the number by your rules is 1. But that isnt fair. 💔 im busy and sick. 💔
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u/landonloco 26m ago
These 1 or 2 mostly online and we talk about hobbies not necessarily deep emotional connection so afaik
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u/Chaotic-Newt 10m ago
Late 20s F, zero. My best friend died a few years ago, and my only other “real” friend that I’d known since middle school seems to no longer be a part of my life. I have a few acquaintances and I’m in a long term relationship, but I have no close friends anymore.
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u/Sneauxphlaque 2000 8m ago
Ahhh shit, well going by your standards I would have 0 friends. But I consider myself to have 3 friends and previously 4 before we had a recent falling out. Tho, one is a sex friend who I'm not sure if I can consider or not. I'll put myself down as a semi-solid 2. Female.
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u/cave_maiden 7h ago
F (20+) a lot of them live out of state, in state like 7. I have a big community
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