Too many friends?

When you're a teenager, your online status is driven - to a large extent - by the number of friends you have on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. It's yet another measure of popularity. At first glance, it seems harmless enough. But is it?

Recent research suggests that our brains evolve to know no more than 150 people, including those in your household, family and neighbouring caves or huts. 150! Most schools alone are twice the size, and we're not counting family friends, the kids in the street who go to a different school, the mates from swimming lessons, and so on.

Add to that people you befriend online, and you can almost see your brain short-circuiting as they try to sort out the Jenny from ballet and the Jenny from school and Aunt Jenny and Jenny online who goes by the handle born2bwild....

Here's the article if you'd like to see the implications of Internet socialising on this generation's puberty and adolescence years: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10562544&pnum=0.

And here's my book about online friendships going bad:

"Witch Hunts on the Internet" (http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook77234.htm).