The Friendship Trap. Are our social lives sabotaging our love lives?

摘要

Mike and his date were at the union Square subway stop, deciding whether to go home together for the first time, when his cell phone suddenly buzzed. The 28-year-old New Yorker cut the evening short and raced to his friend's apartment. The big emergency? A game of Scatter-gories had begun. "You have to remember the people who are worth your time," he explains. "As opposed to getting some, the Scattergories definitely won." If Mike sounds as though he's prioritizing his friendships over his love life, he's not alone. Our 24/7 social connectivity means we're swimming in a constant stream of urgent texts from our closest friends, punctuated by Likes and comments from our more casual acquaintances on social media. From Sex and the City to New Girl, popular culture is always reminding us that it's friendship, not love, that lasts forever. But as our friend circles get wider and deeper, our expectations of friendship are being ratcheted up to the point where they're sabotaging our romantic relationships.