陈雪峰

     How many online friends did I have in the past? I cannot give an exact answer. But there is no doubt that I have made hundreds of online friends in the past 12 years, most of whom I have lost contact with. Now, I have less than 30 friends on my QQ chat list because I need to delete marginalized people from time to time.

    Online friends and real life friends are not the same thing. How about my real life friends? From primary school to the work place, I have known dozens of people. However, I only keep in touch with a few of them.

    I feel that many familiar faces are dropping out of my list. But my situation is not unique, people around me share the same feeling: We are losing friends! As China’s workforce continues to flow to certain cities, fewer people have a stable address.

    According to research, one man can only keep intimate friendship with no more than five people at the same time. So it is quite true that we lose old friends as we meet new ones.

    Several years ago, I came across a junior middle school classmate on a street in my hometown. We both burst into laughter and agreed that time had passed so quickly. We both expressed our shame about the fact that we had lost contact.

    Yet the philosophers once said, “Things change over time.” Friendship is the same. A good friend may even become an enemy, and vice versa. We may feel shame when life drags us apart from people we once connected with, but life has to go on. If possible, try to reach your long-lost friends and send best wishes.