While having 1,500 people fill up your news feed might be something to boast about in the social networking world, new research shows that the human brain can only handle meaningful relationships with about 150 people.
At least, that's what Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Oxford, is claiming, having studied what it takes to make businesses and communities run smoothly.
Dubbed "Dunbar's Number" by--who else?--fans of his Facebook page, 150 is believed to be the number at which a group of people functions best, Dunbar told NPR.
After spending time researching different types of communities ranging from military units to tribal groups to businesses, Dunbar found that in companies with fewer than 500 people colleagues tend to experience closer bonds, treating each other as friends.
In larger groups, people are less likely to work hard or help each other, he said, with colleagues often lacking a sense of obligation toward each other.
"Relationships involved across very big units then become very casual — and don't have that deep meaning and sense of obligation and reciprocity that you have with your close friends," he told NPR.
Dunbar explained that the concept finds its origins in humans’ primate ancestors, who would work together in smaller groups to solve problems and escape predators.
So while you might skim over the latest status update posted by an old friend from high school, Dunbar said the relationship probably doesn't run much deeper than casual interest.
"Friends, if you don't see them, will gradually cease to be interested in you," he told NPR.
Interesting finding. The internet while allowing us to connect with more people at any one time is doing so at a much more casual level.
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