The Friendship Paradox

The Friendship Paradox is the observation that, on average, your friends have more friends than you do. This counterintuitive idea arises because people with more friends are more likely to be included in social circles, making them more prominent in your network. If you look at your friends’ friend counts, many will have larger networks, skewing the average upward. Thus, even if you feel socially connected, it's common to find that your friends tend to be more socially active than you personally experience. This phenomenon highlights the dynamics of social networks and how they can affect perceptions of friendship.