I consider a friend as someone of which I've gained a mutual respect with/someone I will voluntarily spend time with. I currently have 3 friends.
An acquaintance is someone who may consider me their friend, though I may not particularly care for them. I have 28437562 acquaintances (most of which know my name though I won't know theirs)
Thank you to everyone who has replied, a common theme seems to be a few close friends and some have many acquaintances but are not overly fussed with having a deep connection with any of them, while i have no real life acquaintances i picked up a fair few from facebook, at one point i had 80 people on my list and around 60 i never had any contact with at allso i chucked them off and now around 28 :crazy:
I've also been criticised almost all the time in my life about my lack of socialising and the fact have such a small social circle, by family, by the woman i'm dating (however she's accepted that side of me now) and especially by all the mental health professionals i've seen over the years, they basically said it was the reason i was depressed sometimes, however they never had an answer to my reply of "well actually it bothers you and others more than it ever bothers me" :crazy:
Anyone else face this "you need to be more outgoing" sort of comments or were you better able to stay under the radar?
Aye goesupinward i reckon it is a good thing to come out of the shell a little, i started that when i was 17/18 and i usually pick and choose my moments :laughing:
Ah right i see, being forced ain't fun in my experience.