It depends on the friends, obviously. Friends generally fall into tiers, like those old food-pyramid posters in the school cafeteria, except in this case, the tiny triangle at the pinnacle is where the good stuff is, your best friends who provide the most nourishment. The broad base of the pyramid represents the acquaintances, the kinda-friends, the friends of friends and amiable whoevers that, like matcha cupcakes or pigs in a blanket, are great to sample at a party, but do not make a full meal. Such loose acquaintances can be categorized as “weak tie” relationships, to summon a term coined by the Stanford University sociologist Mark Granovetter in the 1970s, as Amanda Mull wrote in The Atlantic in January. Rachel Stevens, 35, a producer at a radio station in Bozeman, Mont., has been fine without the “riffraff,” the extraneous half-friends.

Source: New York Times March 27, 2021 09:00 UTC